GHOSTS IN THE HEDGEROW

A delight Hugh Warwick ecologist and author of A Prickly Affair Hilarious and heartbreaking Lee Schofield author of Wild Fell A triumph Charles Foster author of Cry of the Wild Being a Human and A Little Brown Sea A necessary nature book with prose as sharp as prickles John Lewis StempelA body lies motionless on the ground Small with a snouty head and covered with spines it is unquestionably dead before its time And all of those gathered around the corpse are suspect So which one of them is responsible for this crime and for the disappearance of many many thousands of hedgehogs in recent decades Is it the car driver the badger the farmer the gardener Who could possibly have it in for a hedgehog In poll after poll they come out top as our favourite mammal And yet their numbers are estimated to have halved in less than twenty years Magnifying glass in hand Tom Moorhouse investigates the evidence On a vital mission to bring those responsible to justice prevent further murder and save a species he uncovers a story full of twists turns and uncomfortable truths about the trade offs that exist between humans and wildlife But he can also see a solution