A YOUNG hedgehog appeared in our garden this week and it did not seem at all worried or alarmed at our presence.

My wife and I were busy with our gardening chores when we noticed him. He was snuffling around among some vegetation near a flight of steps and it was only when I started the lawnmower that he showed real concern.

The noise alarmed him and he tried to hide, but, when the mower ceased, he resumed his foraging. Even though we were working only a few feet away from him, he continued his hunt for food and we had no wish for him to leave our garden.

On the contrary, it is in our interests that he remains because hedgehogs are wonderful pest controllers, eating a range of creatures like slugs, snails, beetles, caterpillars and other garden nuisances.

As we worked, he pottered around the borders and we could hear him snuffling and disturbing the vegetation as he explored our little patch of England. Eventually, having finished my lawn-mowing, I moved to another part of the garden and, as I stood on a path, I noticed my new friend heading towards me.

I thought my presence would alert him and cause him to dash for cover, but it didn't. He came straight towards me, so I stood very still and eventually his flexible nose touched the toe of my shoe.

I must admit I wondered about the strength of his eyesight because he seemed very interested in my old gardening shoe. The eyesight of hedgehogs is not particularly good, but I decided to test his by twitching my toes - the tip of the shoe moved, whereupon he curled into a semi-ball state, remaining immobile until this new danger had passed.

I walked away from him and he remained as still as a stone for about ten minutes and then, deciding it was safe to continue, he moved away. The last I saw of him was when he was trotting quite quickly along the path towards the compost heap. Since then, I have not seen him and have no idea whether or not he remains a guest in our garden.

The sight of a hedgehog in broad daylight is rather unusual because most of their activities are nocturnal, but young ones can often be spotted during the daylight hours.

Likewise, sickly ones can also venture out during the day, but I don't think ours was ill. I am sure it was a youngster because it was much smaller than some of those I've encountered from time to time. Young ones are usually born in early summer, although some litters may be born as late as September, but I must admit it was difficult to estimate the age of our visitor.

If a hedgehog does show an interest in your garden, he should be encouraged to remain. Putting out food is one method of making him feel welcome, but bread and milk in a saucer is not recommended.

Many people believe this will encourage hedgehogs and they might appear to enjoy it, but cows' milk can cause them illness or even death. Bowls of muesli, cat food and dog food or merely a saucer of water will all be enjoyed by a hedgehog and, if food is presented on regular occasions, a hedgehog can become surprisingly tame. I've heard of some who would refuse to leave after being fed on good quality dog food.

If you feed them too well, of course, they will not deal with your pests, but bearing in mind a hedgehog's natural diet of worms, slugs, snails and so forth, one of the greatest risks at the present time comes from the amount of pesticide and slug pellets used in gardens.

If hedgehogs eat large quantities of pests which have been affected by these killers, the hedgehogs are then put in danger. The message is simple - if you want hedgehogs to help in your garden, don't use pesticides or slug pellets.

Other garden dangers include the use of strimmers, which can kill or maim hedgehogs, and uncovered drains, swimming pools, ponds or other places in which a hedgehog can be trapped. In the winter, there is added risk that garden bonfires can burn them to death when hibernating.

In addition to problems in our gardens, it is estimated that about 100,000 hedgehogs are killed each year by motor vehicles on our roads. Such is the concern at the number of deaths that it is now feared the hedgehog is in danger of becoming extinct.

Certainly, there has been a dramatic fall in their numbers in this country, with some figures showing that only about a million of them are now living wild.

Some people do not like to handle hedgehogs, not only due to their prickly coats, but because they are notoriously flea-ridden. Their fleas only affect hedgehogs, but you should not use cat or dog flea sprays on them. These are too powerful and will cause harm.

In fact, you should not handle baby hedgehogs at all because the mother will scent the strange smell left by your hands and may desert them or even eat them!

Leave them alone and she will attend to them when she considers the time is right. Even in the hedgehog world, mother knows best.

Although our garden is of modest size, it does attract a good deal of wildlife, particularly birds in winter when we place feeders out for them.

At this time of year, however, there is still a great deal of interest in addition to our hedgehog. Sitting in the sunshine for my morning coffee just before compiling these notes, I was entertained in various ways.

Two male blackbirds were feeding their youngsters, one visiting its nest in a bush outside our utility room, and the other popping into the shelter of a shrub on one of our borders. The latter chicks had flown the nest and were hiding in the border plants. Each parent was operating only a few feet from me and seemed unconcerned at my presence.

At the same time, two male house sparrows were building nests under the pantiles, one above the utility room and the other under the garage roof. As I sipped my coffee, they flew to and fro with nesting materials and, like the blackbirds, they did not seem worried about my presence.

Similarly, a blue tit was popping into a nesting box we placed on the garage wall, but I do not know whether it was visiting its partner on a nest, inspecting the box as a possible nesting site or feeding youngsters. The tits, though, are near neighbours of the sparrows, but they do not seem to argue in the manner of some human neighbours.

While the birds kept me entertained during my coffee break, a queen wasp arrived and began to scrape minute quantities of wood from our garden table. I watched her at work only inches away, marvelling at her patience and industry because she returned several times to remove tiny quantities of wood which had been softened by her saliva.

She would carry this away to build her nest, the softened wood being rather like a rough paper. Because she flew away over the roof of the house, I could not determine the site of her nest, but it might be in the ground, perhaps in a hole deserted by mice or voles.

A wasps' nest is a most elaborate structure and I found myself wondering how on earth this tiny creature is able to fashion such a complex structure from such tiny mouthfuls of wood paste. In all, an entertaining and instructive coffee break.

That fascinating mixture of wildlife and domestic garden was continued during my morning walk because a lilac tree was in full bloom in the hedgerow.

The lilac is not generally regarded as a wild plant, but is usually considered a garden shrub or small tree, reaching a height of some 20ft (6m) or so. As this one was quite large, I can only assume it has been there for some years, even if I have never noticed it on previous walks.

Popular in gardens and parks, the lilac is now well established in this country, having been introduced from Europe sometime during the sixteenth century. Some gardeners do not welcome it with open arms because it has a habit of producing suckers, which can be a nuisance. Nonetheless, lilacs can produce a wonderful display of flowers whose colours range from white to purple via various shades of pink.

There are many different varieties, but all I can say about the one in our hedgerow is that it had pink flowers!

It is often said that lilac blossom with eight petals is an omen of love, but it's unlucky to take lilac (known as fairy ladders) indoors