Meet the volunteer giving our native hedgehogs a helping hand

She has nursed thousands of these spiny mammals back to health from her home in Cheslyn Hay since setting up her rescue operation almost 18 years ago.

Sick, injured and distressed hedgehogs are given warm beds and some much-needed tender loving care at her purpose built Hedgehog Hosprickal.

The 75-year-old fell in love with these native British creatures when one wandered into her back garden one evening.

But when it was still there the next morning Joan, who runs West Midlands Hedgehog Rescue, realised something must be wrong.

"The one thing I knew about hedgehogs was that they are nocturnal and you should never see them out during the day time," she explains.

After calling a vet for advice she got in touch with a local hedgehog carer who talked her through looking after her new charge.

The hedgehog, nicknamed Spike, had been born too late in the year and needed feeding up.

He survived the winter and she released him back into the garden in the spring.

By this time Joan had caught the hedgehog bug and since then more than 7,500 have followed in Spike's footsteps.

"They are just really attractive, unusual and so cute. I don't know anybody who doesn't like hedgehogs," says Joan.

At the moment she has around 15 hedgehogs in her care which includes many that need feeding up over the winter months. At her busiest she's had 61 needing to be coaxed back into full health.

One of the latest residents is female Harriet who was spotted in a garden in Sedgley during day light on New Year's Day. She is blind in one eye which Joan thinks has been caused by an infection and underweight.

"At this time of year, there are many that are underweight and will struggle to get through winter. They need to weigh about 800g to survive.

"If a female has a later litter then there will be a lot of what we call autumn juveniles. They are often seen out and about scavenging for food.

"We also get some that have been hit by cars. When they see a car coming, instead of running off, they will curl up in a ball.

"Last year the RSPCA saw a lot of hedgehogs stuck in drains. In the hot weather there wasn't much water about. They would smell water in the drain and fall in and become trapped," explains Joan.

While they are in her 'Hosprickal', she will make sure they stay clean as well as giving them food and any medication they might require.

She also keeps them tick-free by removing any critters she spots. Although this can be challenging at times because of their natural instinct to roll into a defensive ball.

"They tend to curl up as soon as you touch them so you have to have a lot of patience," says Joan, who won an IFAW Animal Action Award for her work with hedgehogs in 2015.

One of the common myths surrounding hedgehogs is that you should give them bread and milk but Joan says this can be very dangerous.

"You should never give a hedgehog milk because it can't digest the lactose. If it's baby or young hedgehog it could be enough to kill it and it could make an adult hedgehog very ill," she says.

Instead they are given tinned and dry cat food, which is much easier for them to digest.

Once they have recovered from their ordeal and are in good health they can be released back into the area in which they were found.

Some hedgehogs may never be able to go back to the wild so these are released into a secure, enclosed garden where they can live without fear of predators. They are gardeners' friends as they love to feed on slugs and snails.

Joan's advice for anyone who spots a hedgehog that might be sick or injured is to pick it up using gloves or an old towel and place it in a high sided box filled with torn up newspaper.

"If you see a hedgehog out in the daylight, or an injured or sick hedgehog at any time, it is in trouble. A hedgehog 'sun-bathing' or 'staggering' is probably very cold, and hypothermia is setting in. You need to act at once to help the animal," she says.

If the hedgehog feels cold to the touch, put in a bottle filled with hot water and wrap it up in a towel. If there is an obvious wound or injury, they should take the hedgehog to a vet straight away.

Vets will usually call in a carer to look after the animal while it recovers so it can be released back into the wild.

Hedgehogs are protected species and the population is believed to have fallen to around one million due in part to the loss of habitats and road deaths.

Joan says she's proud to be playing a part in trying to reverse their fortunes and boost numbers in the wild. "It's very rewarding to know you have helped a creature in need and helped it get back to the wild where it belongs," she says.

*For more information see www.wmhr.org.uk