Peter Rhodes on chain gangs, a woolly hedgehog and a sea urchin in deepest Oxfordshire

My eye was caught by the tale of the woman in Cheshire who rescued what she though was a baby hedgehog. She cared for it overnight and the next day took it to a wildlife hospital where staff correctly identified it as a fluffy bobble off a woolly hat. The nation titters because, honestly, how could anyone mistake a bobble for a hedgehog?

And then I recalled an incident from my infant-school days in Oxfordshire. Aged about six, I found a spikey thistle head, put it in a jam jar of water and told Teacher it was a sea urchin. For some days it took pride of place on the classroom nature table and, as far as I can recall, no-one ever asked how a sea urchin came to be in Bicester. I take two lessons from these stories. The first is that we humans have a deep and admirable instinct to rescue and care for other creatures, even improbable creatures. The second lesson is to be very wary of six-year-olds bearing gifts.