Wildlife artist goes full hog with painting after raising young hedgehog
Yorkshire Wolds wildlife artist Robert E Fuller has revealed how rescuing and raising a young hedgehog inspired one of his most endearing paintings.
Mr Fuller, from Thixendale, inadvertently caught a young hedgehog in a rat trap in his garden.
Fortunately, the hoglet wasn’t hurt, but it was tiny and separated from its family – and Mr Fuller was worried that if he let it go it wouldn’t make it through the fast-approaching winter.
He made the decision to look after the helpless animal and care for it until it was ready and heavy enough to be released back into the wild.
Before this chance encounter, Mr Fuller had avoided painting hedgehogs, dismissing them as a little ‘twee’.
However, the experience took Mr Fuller on a journey that made him see the species in a whole different light.
Mr Fuller said: “Until I met this prickly creature, I had considered hedgehogs a bit too ‘twee’ to paint.
"In fact I have to confess to habitually letting out a great groan when I saw it top surveys of Britain’s favourite mammal, or when someone asked me to paint one.
"When I unexpectedly found myself hand-rearing a baby hedgehog, it soon became the focus of my life – and a new painting that won my heart.”
Mr Fuller added: “It weighed a mere 280g when I discovered it. Thankfully, my wife said nothing when she saw it in her clean stainless steel weighing bowls.
"Ideally, a hedgehog needs to weigh closer to 600g before it is ‘safe’ to go into hibernation as it relies on fat reserves to stay alive during the long winter.”
Go to www.robertefuller.com to find out more about Mr Fuller’s work as a painter and wildlife filmmaker, and forthcoming exhibitions at his Thixendale gallery.