The medieval folklore of Britain’s endangered wildlife ‘omens’ – from hedgehogs to nightjars

A hedgehog illustration from a medieval bestiary (1270) by an unknown illuminator. Courtesy of Getty’s Open Content Program, CC BY-SA

As the seasons turn and the nights draw in, the countryside of the British Isles seems alive with omens: an owl’s screech, or a bat above the hedgerows.

For centuries, such creatures were cast as messengers of fate, straddling the boundary between the natural and the supernatural. Yet today, the omens these animals bring are no longer warnings of ghosts or witchcraft, but of something far more tangible: their own survival.