Children take part in hedgehog awareness workshop in Trent Park

The pupils at Merryhills Primary School visited the Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service (WRAS) centre to hear from its founders about how to protect hedgehogs in the wild.

The children gathered in the wildlife classroom, which was built and donated by Berkeley Homes in 2019, to hear from WRAS founders Barry and June Smitherman.

They went on to create their own hedgehog awareness posters and helped Berkeley’s senior sustainability advisor Victoria Chater-Lea locate a good spot to place a new hedgehog house, which provides valuable, safe shelter for the animals as they travel.

The children also enjoyed a visit to some of the rescued animals who live or are recuperating at the centre and before departing, were gifted their own toy hedgehog and a Berkeley certificate.

Ms Chater-Lea said: "It was fantastic to meet with the children and staff from Merryhills Primary School and take part in such an insightful workshop with the incredible team at WRAS.

"Hedgehogs are sadly in danger of becoming extinct in years to come if we don’t take action; everyone can make a difference, through the provision of hedgehog houses in our gardens or creating small holes in our fences to let hedgehogs pass through."

She added: "At our Trent Park development, as part of our commitment to enhancing biodiversity, we’re doing everything we can to help. As well as supporting the fantastic work of the WRAS, we’ve volunteered the gardens of our new homes as a safe place to reintroduce hedgehogs back into the wild, and the provision of flower beds provides somewhere for them to quietly forage for food.

"We’re also introducing hedgehog highways, a small hole at the bottom of the garden fences across Trent Park."