IT WAS a dog-walker’s labrador-cross that spotted it first. A juvenile hedgehog, shuffling in a slew of leaves beneath a white poplar, its grey-brown camouflage making it nearly invisible.

One man and his dog moved on - the latter with reluctance. A little later, and another spiky back, bulkier this time, appeared further along this row of five poplars, interspersed with evergreen holm oaks and a cherry tree.

The scene is a green lane in a quiet corner of Aberystwyth, 50 yards of trees and grassy bank tucked in behind Rhes Caergrawnt/Cambridge Terrace in Queen’s Road.

These days, hedgehogs are an increasingly unusual sight. These were the first I’d seen for years. Later, I hear of someone who comes here regularly to feed them, and of one found crossing North Road and moved for safety to the garden of the empty Catholic presbytery next door to Cambridge Terrace.

Aberystwyth hasn’t got that many public green spaces. There’s Parc Penglais, the castle-grounds, Plas Crug. And little else. So you would imagine there’d be unanimity on the need to protect this little gem in the town’s conservation area. That safeguarding it would be thought particularly important because it’s home to a rare wild animal no-one could possibly have any complaints about. And which is legally protected.

No such luck. Leased by the town council from the county council - so, owned by the public - this green enclave is threatened with something close to destruction.

Some town councillors, under pressure from some owners of houses in the terrace, want the poplars cut down. Do that, and you destroy a wildlife haven. But consider: no-one’s suggesting these trees are other than healthy; or too tall, or too wide, or past their prime.

A single householder has written to the town council complaining about poplar suckers. Iwan Jenkins said the roots were “sending up new saplings”, adding: “I’ve removed over a dozen from my garden this year.” A second owner is said to be similarly concerned.

The likely repercussions of felling, cutting up and taking away large trees from this constricted piece of land are clear.

Hedgehogs would die, be injured or driven away, and their habitat damaged or destroyed.

Yet they are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981; and are a UK Biodiversity Action Plan species included on the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 list of “species of principal importance for conservation of biological diversity in Wales”.

In addition, white poplars provide food for many moth caterpillars, early pollen and nectar for bees and other insects and seeds for birds. They’re especially good at mopping up carbon dioxide.

Tree suckers really aren’t a problem. Shoots from various trees come up in my back garden all the time - some close to the house. It’s what trees do.

You simply keep cutting them off, and eventually they give up.

As a member of the public, I have now formally asked the county council to put tree preservation orders on all seven trees.