St. George wrote:
:: Hi,
::
:: Probably an old Chestnut but am new to this N.G.
::
:: Could someone please advise if hedgehogs should be encouraged or
:: discouraged in the garden.

Encouraged, they sniff out slugs and snails..their snouts are perfectly
shaped to rummage through leaf litter and foilage to get them out.
::
:: Also what is the role of the snail and slug ?
::
Primarily to eat shoots, leaves and roots, although we have some very large
(about the size of a man's thumb)slugs around here which don't seem to
bother with plants at all, I've seen them eating discarded food such as
sweets, ice cream, chocolates and biscuits etc, even bread and meat (we have
a few large families nearby - their kids are forever dropping food in the
street) does anyone know what these things are?...they are almost always
bright orange but occasionally black.

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