Ghosts in the Hedgerow: A hedghog whodunnit

by Tom Moorhouse

'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-Stempel

A 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.

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Animals, Ecology, Natural History, Science

272 pages, Paperback

Published March 21, 2024

About the author

Dr Tom Moorhouse is an author of nature books and children's fiction, and also a conservation research scientist who worked for over twenty years at the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, part of Oxford University's Zoology Department.

Over his career he has researched quite a lot of British wildlife, most of which tried to bite him. He lives with his wife and daughter in Oxford. One day he hopes to persuade wild hedgehogs back into his garden.

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book about the habit and environment of hedgehog in a challenging world where they are in decline. Very informative

[Ellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The hedgehog murder mystery part is a bit silly, but overall this is a good overview of the dangers facing hedgehogs and what we can do individually to help. Tom really loves a good pun.

I think it's made me realise that we have actually rewilded a small patch of land. From a sterile gravel and concrete garden, we now have a regular hedgehog visitor (not to mention other species mentioned as in trouble in this book) and that's something to be proud of when conservation seems so doomed.

[Ruth · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good overview on the decline of hedgehog populations is ruined by this twee murder mystery scenario. Also almost every page has a footnote. Some of the footnotes are longer than the page. Some pages have multiple footnotes. I don’t know who this is meant to appeal to. It’s like he wrote the manuscript and the publisher sent it back saying can you add a considerable body of asides please.

[Christian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this and managed to finish it in a day, breaking my difficult reading rut I have been in. About the plight of hedgehogs in Britain, a non fiction account with a murder mystery plot interspersed in some of the pages. Full of facts but also with ways to make your own home more hedgehog friendly. A fantastic five star read.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

An original fictional framing is only part of the reason this book about whether and why hedgehog numbers are declining is so engaging. I was especially tickled by his farming landowner Major Geddoff (who perhaps gets off quite lightly - although I reckon there should have been a politician in the gathering of suspects)

This seems like a great book to enthuse the young considering what career fields to pursue and should demonstrate to all that whilst things are definitely not simple, that's no excuse for inaction. One of the things I found most sobering was how (very) few 'hedgehog highways' were actually cut in areas of extensive input and study- there is a good reflection on the relative success of some measures which do not require cooperation and conversation with neighbours.

[Sarah Quinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The murder mystery aspect was silly but kind of fun just to break up the long chapters. By the end I stopped reading the footnotes because they, for my personal reading experience, added nothing and took me out of what I was learning about. Other than that though a really interesting read. I don’t have a garden that’s my own, but when I do, I definitely will adhere to the rewilding principles. Screw boring, unimaginative gardens that we deem as ours even though local biodiversity didn’t get a say in that ownership decision. Our gardens should equally belong to nature and OUR HEDGEHOGS !!

3.5,, potentially my longest review

[Stuart Page · Rating 4 out of 5]

I decided recently to re-embrace my love for hedgehogs, a sort of moment I went through when I was seven, by reading about all the ways in which we are killing them.

The main thing I learned is...hedgehogs really like hedges! (Well, duh.) They provide shelter, warmth, and safe travelways. And for various reasons, we have removed massive swathes of hedgerows across the UK, leaving hedgehogs to try and survive in arid farmland, or else in urban areas, utilising gardens that are too often hard to get into, sometimes manicured to the point of uselessness, and also littered with potential hazards.

If I had a garden, I would make it a wildlife paradise and that would make me feel better about the state of things. However, as it is, I am depressed, and spend most of my time shuffling to and fro like a zombie--decaying, I suspect, intellectually and emotionally. Wait, what was I talking about? Gardens? Aah. I don't have one.

Moorhouse enjoyed hedgehogs being killed by traffic a little too much for my tastes, being at his most playful in his language when observing roadkill. It is fascinating and obscene. Apart from that (and from the narrative framing of various different factors being the True Hedgehog Murderer, personified and questioned by a golden-age style detective, which I'm sure some find useful but I just found distracting), it was a strong book that got better as it went on. I would recommend it to those interested in hedgehogs and/or ecological conservation in the UK and Europe.

"Hedgehogs...are fantastically adaptable, and within living memory were busily delighting people almost everywhere. When species like that begin to suffer, we absolutely must take notice. Because the causes can only be systemic, pervasive and severe."

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually rather liked the whodunnit aspects of this, they were a little silly but very much in the vein of a cozy mystery which lightened up an otherwise depressing subject. As someone who has read a fair bit about hedgehogs over the last few years I didn't really learn anything new, apart from the origins of the often quote 1950s population size so that was interesting, as was some of the research that has been done by Rasmussen involved auto lawnmowers (mildly disturbing but interesting none the less). But this is a great book for those less familiar with the drivers that have pushed hedgehog numbers down and what individuals could do to help ease the pressure. Each chapter looks at a different culprit, giving both sides of the reasoning for how responsible each cause is, and I was pleased that Moorhouse covered the badger-hedgehog issue with a clear acknowledgement that they have been living around each other for millennia so we can't pin the blame there. Overall an enjoyable and informative read, and if you don't like the whodunnit bits they're easy enough to skip, same for the footnotes if you don't fancy those (there are a fair few in places).

[Kena · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a Book Club read for me. It wouldn't ordinarily be a book that I'd have picked up and read on my own volition. That said, I do like hedgehogs and found the premise of the demise of the hedgehog framed around a 'whodunnit' appealing.

I found the book an interesting read, but actually found the 'whodunnit' section a little irritating - even though that was the aspect that appealed to me in the first instance.

There were sections of the book I genuinely found interesting, That said, I quickly stopped reading the footnotes - in some cases the footnotes almost filled the pages. I found the chapter on the impact of badgers in an area where hedgehogs live interesting - it was something that I hadn't been aware of.

All in all, an interesting read on the ecosystem and the impact of intensive farming and urbanisation on the hedgehog population. I definitely learned more about the plight of Britain's hedgehog having read this book. .

[Graham · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't get into this one at all and found myself skimming it. I love hedgehogs and even have the pleasure of some visiting my garden on occasion, and the author obviously knows his stuff. But I found the whole detective angle complete nonsense and unreadable, part of a modern trend to fictionalise aspects of non-fiction I'm really not a fan of (last week I had the same experience with a 'Cold Case Jury' book). The rest is split down into chapters looking at the usual culprits for hedgehog decline: badgers, unfriendly gardens, cars, roads, and slug pellets. All of this is okay, but marred by extensive humorous footnotes which sometimes take up more than half the page. I found those annoying too. Sorry!

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Novel approach to present the issues of protection of hedgehogs in the context of a Christie-style crime caper. Informative and eye-opening. But lots of references to author's own and his student's research. Given the challenge of sampling hedgehogs, the methodologies presented are innovative but still more anecdotal/ speculative than quantitative. Living in surburbia, we have foxes, cats, dogs, heron, squirrels (frogs)! in our garden, never seen a hedgehog, but now more aware of these creatures and the issues they face in survival. While a few holes have 'evolved' over time in our fences, we're not going to be making extra (highway) holes in our fences any time soon!

[Zoe Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author fits a lot of information into what is really quite a short book and manages to cram in stats without it feeling overwhelming or boring. The topic at hand (hedgehog decline) is sad; however Moorhouse does a good job of keeping it fairly light where possible and leaving the reader feeling motivated to do their part for hedgehogs (and wildlife in general).

I'm not sure the whodunnit element was necessary but it provided a light narrative structure to an otherwise information-heavy book.

[Ivan Monckton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A curate’s egg of a book. Whilst it contains a host of very useful information about hedgehogs, the dangers they face, how to give them a helping hand, and the absolute necessity for a more ecological approach to farming, the ‘whodunit detective’ stuff is a little silly, and the very many spurious footnotes spoilt the book for this reader. What it did do was to spur my interest in hedgehogs, to the point of ordering the New Naturalist title from my local bookshop!

[Nate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was on the fence (dare I say hedge?) about the 5th star. The murder mystery narrative and myriad of silly footnotes was simultaneously annoying, distracting, endearing, and fun.
All together a fun, quick, easy, and informative read about Britains most beloved garden visitor.
TL;DR?
Farming intensity (removing hedgerows and adding lots of chemicals), badger populations, inaccessible back gardens, lawnmowers, and rapidly declining biodiversity are all to blame.

[Patrick Carroll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Completely marvellous, Tom manages to use his story style, wit and delightful prose to convey complex ecological concepts and information in the lightest of ways. Some "laugh out loud" points (I do enjoy a good pun) but underlying it all is his highlighting of the risks we (humans) are taking in our treatment of the natural world, well beyond hedgehogs, a possible indicator species?

[Tracey White · Rating 4 out of 5]

A witty way of highlighting a serious ecological problem. I used to have hedgehogs visiting my garden, not seen one in years. I have been inspired to attempt to attract them back and to make my outdoor space friendlier to wildlife in general.

[Rokkan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 out of 5 stars

A humorous and educational look at the natural history of the hedgehog, with a varying cast of creatures and characters supporting the author's educational intent. The use of footnotes was perhaps a little bit excessive for my preferences, but all in all a lovely little read

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting book, portrayed in a novel format. I always love a call to action and I feel like I'll be making some intentional differences as a result of reading this.