A prickly surprise

Ollie and I were along at the vegetable garden this afternoon.  I let the hens out so they could have a scratch about, with Ollie supervising, while I did more weeding and planted some Jerusalem artichokes.  

We went home via the back field and I saw something brown in the undergrowth.  I thought it was a female pheasant, or woodcock, but it was a hedgehog!  Ollie was a bit nonplussed, he sniffed at it then ignored it.  I lay on the grass and watched it for ages.  

It did a bit of scraping and snuffling and obviously found things to eat as it was doing quite a bit of lip licking!  My presence didn't seem to bother it at all.  I probably smelt of soil and hens, I had eggs in my pockets, my boots were caked in mud.  It got within about a feet or so of me, put its little  nose in the air and had a good sniff, then turned and calmly headed back into the longer grass and bushes. . . .