Save Our Hedgehogs #1 Traditional Cache
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Size: 
(micro)
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A series created to highlight the plight of the poor hedgehog. Each cache is unique and individual and each cache page has an interesting ‘ Hedgehog Fact’ WARNING . Adders are known to live in this forest so please beware of the dangers. I have tried to place the caches away from possible habitats but look before you touch.
Hedgehogs are nocturnal nomads, travelling between one and two miles a night to forage for food. The once common sight of hedgehogs in gardens could become a thing of the past, with the spiny species having suffered a dramatic decline in recent years on a par with the loss of starlings, red squirrels and other British wildlife. They are not easy to count but the best estimates we have say that numbers have declined from over 30 million in the 1950s to around 1.5 million now. They are now listed as an endangered species. If the decline continues, we will lose our last hedgehog by 2020. Poet Philip Larkin even penned a poem ‘The Mower’ over the death of a Hedgehog. Shakespeare mentions hedgehogs in ‘The Tempest’ and ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and he refers to ‘hedgepigs’ and ‘urchins’ Ecologists stress more work needs to be done to pinpoint the reasons behind the decline, but said likely candidates are habitat loss, poor management of hedgerows and fragmentation of habitat, due to new roads, housing and other developments. Tens of thousands of hedgehogs are killed by road traffic each year. All of us should be encouraged to take part in building habitat and "wildlife corridors" for hedgehogs in our gardens, but society needs to consider the wider impact of developing green space for human activities and that every single choice people made – from how they travelled to where they shopped – had an impact on hedgehogs. Did you know........ A hedgehog is able to roll itself into a ball so as to present the spines outwardly in every direction. Thank you to the Forestry Commission especially Nick Johnson who gave permission for this trail to be placed. To avoid caches being muggled most are situated a few metres off the path or track. Please cover appropriately once found.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Lbh jbag trg Gbbgucnfgr sebz guvf ghor.
Qvssrerag pbagnvare gb gur erfg bs gur frevrf.
Treasures
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