THIS is Harry the hedgehog.

At about four weeks old, he was found out wandering in a school playground when someone picked him up and handed him in to Steventon Vets last Friday.

His case is not isolated. Experts say hot weather is forcing hedgehog mothers to go further in search of food, abandoning their young.

Harry is now in the care of Claire Beard, 30, of Didcot, who works for Little Foxes wildlife rescue centre in Great Haseley, near Thame.

Mrs Beard, who was given the hedgehog by the vets, said: “He has got his sharp adult spikes and teeth meaning he was almost ready to leave the nest anyway.”

Mrs Beard started looking after hedgehogs last year when she found two abandoned babies.

Her children, Travis, five, and five-month-old Tiffany, don’t mind having the new arrivals at home.

Hugh Warwick, from East Oxford, author of A Prickly Affair, The Charm of the Hedgehog, said it was due to the hot, dry weather: “When it is dry they bury deeper into the soil so at this time of year if you are putting food out for wildlife, cat food is fantastic for the hedgehogs.”