National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales preserves and celebrates the sound and moving image heritage of Wales, making it accessible to a wide range of users for enjoyment and learning. Its film collection reflects every aspect of the nation’s social, cultural and working life across the 20th century, giving a fascinating insight into Welsh filmmaking, both amateur and professional.
This film is part of Free
A Prickly Visitor at Maesmawr Hall, Welshpool
One dark night a hedgehog is found, by lamplight. When day dawns, the prickly creature is tempted to uncurl by the scent of a nicely boiled egg.
From the collection of:
Overview
Curled up, fast asleep, a hedgehog is found on the farm one night, by lamplight. Come the morning, a curious hen and the wafting of a nicely hard-boiled egg under its nose eventually lead the animal – a ‘draenog’ in Welsh (meaning thorny or prickly one) – to uncurl and find its feet again before quietly moving on, out of sight.
Noticeable throughout the extensive amount of footage that Ion Trant shot of life on the farm is the contentment of the animals and their ease in the presence of the camera. E H C Davies, in his obituary for Ion Fitzgibbon Trant in ‘Montgomeryshire Collections’, Vol. 84, 1996, tells of how Ion served as High Sheriff in 1973 but, “he was better known to the general public as the commentator for many years at the County Show, where his knowledge of farming and his love of animals showed clearly in all he said.” He had been brought up on Dovea Farm in Tipperary, Ireland, and used his interest in film to create/shoot the "Country Close-Up" series for children (BBC - 1956-62), often featuring his own three at Maesmawr Hall.