Sam's spiky encounter

Young Sam Nash is clearly thrilled to meet these two hedgehogs which are being nursed back to health.

Sam, of Foulridge, took along some cat food and meal worms for the hedgehogs that Katrina Dorrington is currently caring for at her home in Briercliffe, Burnley.

She has been looking after injured animals for the past six years since a hurt hedgehog crawled onto her lawn.

Katrina nurses them back to health ready to be released back into the wild or the Rochdale Hedgehog Rescue.

The animal-lover has been rescuing hedgehogs full-time for six to seven years, ever since one crawled on to her lawn in the days running up to winter. Now she’s a volunteer for Rochdale Hedgehog Rescue: it’s a time-consuming role which requires a well of patience.

"It’s an ongoing thing, " she said. "We’re extremely busy - that’s the nature of it. With the little ones, you go the extra mile. We call them our residents’. They’re not pets, and they’re not ours. We just care for them.

"We have some incredible personalities here: some are extremely docile and beautiful to handle. We call them Mr or Mrs Sweetypie.

"Some might bite you and some are grumpy but then they settle down. All they need is a caring environment.

"One thing I love about this work is that when they’ve been rehabilitated, they turn back wild. They become aggressive and curl up in a ball, hissing and growling."

To make a donation contact Sue Lewis at the charity on 01706 860904 or email [email protected].