Not just hedgehogs . . .

Jacqui Ashby is talking me through the setup as we tour the hospital and its facilities. Here too, there are wards and ICUs, but the nameplates on the doors are prefixed by mammals' or hedgehogs'.

In just a few minutes, I view close up the most eclectic collection of wild animals and birds that I have ever seen - pigeons, a great crested newt, a chinchilla, several foxes and a swan - are just some undergoing care.

Because of the association with Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle, people often think that the hospital deals only with hedgehogs.

"Not so," says Jacqui. "We've always dealt with every kind of wildlife, although we do handle many hedgehogs."

She leads me into the hedgehog ward, now quieter than at its autumn peak, but with the capacity for hundreds of the endearing mammals.

As we head down the corridor towards the outside pens, aviaries and deer runs, we pass a large glass-fronted cage containing what look like large mice crossed with a touch of squirrel.

"Those are glis glis" advises Jacqui. "They're a cross between a mouse and a squirrel. They're not native, Lord Rothschild brought some in from Northern Europe in the early 1900s, then released them. They centre on Tring and you only see them in the Chilterns. Lovely creatures, but boy, have they got a bite!"

Outside the building, we find half-a-dozen swans by their pond, each contained in sacking to keep them safe on their imminent journey back to the wild. Walking between the fox pens, we dodge the spray from holes in the hosepipes caused by the foxes chewing the pipes.

At the far end, there are stable-type buildings for the deer. The doors are firmly shut. Jacqui tells me that the deer can easily die of shock, so while they are being treated, they are kept very quiet and visited only by the staff. Once on the road to recovery, they are placed in deer runs at the far end of the site.

A duck pond caters for patients and the occasional interloper, a fox earth compound is for Reynard and badger setts are for our stripey friends.

Permanent resident Rufty the blind badger forgets she is supposed to be nocturnal and often sunbathes!

These facilities are stage two in any treatment. Stage one is a cage inside the hospital, stage two helps acclimatise animals prior to returning to their natural habitat. Some occupants are long-term residents, too injured to be released, such as Phoebe the red kite, who lost her upper beak from infection. She is clearly a favourite with the staff.

"But we never put an animal down unless it is so injured that it has no quality of life," said Jacqui. "And, we never return a tamed animal to the wild, it's too dangerous. A tamed animal doesn't fear humans, so it will approach, then possibly bite. Things like fox cubs are quite easily tamed by cuddling and petting, then that's it, they're here for life."

Dodging a lone turkey that Jacqui tells me has nasty tendency to nip the staff, we sit down to talk about rescue and treatment.

Many animals are brought to Tiggywinkles by the public. Medical care is free and they never turn any wild animal away; domestic pets cannot be treated.

Often, animals require expert rescue after a road accident, or becoming trapped in barbed wire, and Jacqui is one of a team of volunteers permanently on call, fully trained and equipped to deal with emergencies. The rescue team operates in a 20 mile or so radius of Tiggywinkles, but has no fixed boundaries. They have a database of wildlife hospitals around the country, so they can call a hospital that might be nearer, if need be.

Most of the deer they treat are victims of road accidents and the team have lasso-type poles and deer-boxes to catch and contain the animals.

"We are taught how to handle the animals and that's crucial," said Jacqui.

"If you find an animal trapped in something like barbed wire, they'll try to get away from a human and just injure themselves more. You're trying to keep the creature calm, hold it steady and cut the wire to free it. We find ourselves in strange places like the bottom of a ditch on a freezing winter night, so it's not easy.

"With bigger animals like deer, we often work in pairs, so that one can drive and the other can look after the animal and keep it calm. For smaller animals like foxes, we have what we call crusher cages that allow us to inject a sedative through the mesh to calm the creature down."

Their vet is part of the International Zoo Vet Group, specially trained to work with exotics and who travels the world doing just that. He deals with the highly-skilled work like surgery, but has taught the veterinary nurses the different techniques needed to deal with wildlife. There are nurses on call 24 hours a day and the night staff sleep in the duty flat when on call. The dentist visits regularly, too.

Catching my look of surprise, Jacqui explained: "Badgers, foxes and hedgehogs need good teeth, but they are often damaged by a fight, or an accident. Our dentist spends most of his week on regular dental work on humans and part of his time on animals.

"I've seen some horrible sights in my time," Jacqui recalled."Rescuing animals cut to ribbons after trying to escape from a wire fence. Then, a couple of months later, you return them to the wild in exactly the spot you found them. They sniff all the old scents and trot off down familiar trails - they're home. And that's great!"