His Royal Spine-ness! Prince Charles adopts three baby HEDGEHOGS

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Prince Charles has adopted three baby hedgehogs at Dumfries House. 

Staff at the Ayrshire estate are hoping the animals - two females and one male - will lead to a breeding boom of Royal hoglets, partly to keep down slugs and other pests in the prince's treasured organic gardens.

The hedgehogs, believed to be four months old, have taken up residence in the estate's five-acre Queen Elizabeth Walled Garden after being nursed back to a healthy weight by volunteers from Hessilhead Wildlife Rescue Centre.

Charles, as patron of the Red Squirrel Survival Trust, has led the fightback against that animal's demise, but has now turned his attention to another of the country's threatened native mammals.

Julie Dougall, an educational gardener based in the organic-certified Kauffman Education Garden at Dumfries House, said the new arrivals enriched the biodiversity of the estate.

She said: 'I just think it's great to get as much wildlife into the estate as we can, and we became aware that Hessilhead Wildlife Rescue, a brilliant Ayrshire charity, were looking to rehome some hedgehogs.

'We welcomed one male and two female hedgehogs earlier this month, and I'm sure they'll be great for the education of children we typically have here on the estate, particularly when they're learning about the food cycle.

'We're trying to bring a biodiversity of wildlife back into the estate. If the hedgehogs breed, great. The more, the better! 

'It would be excellent for the species and for the estate. The education garden is organic and they're basically a pesticide that doesn't harm the soil, taking care of bugs, slugs, and snails.'