Not a hedgehog

I have been glued to a computer screen for the past two weeks working on a large recruitment exercise. As a result I have hardly been out for daily exercise but did manage to pop over the road to the RSPCA rescue centre. The road leading down to the centre was lined with mature trees which had to be cut back or removed altogether due to disease. I think they are lime trees. I found this hedgehog looking woody growth around the base of one of the heavily coppiced trees.