Guernsey Post issue celebrates Alderney’s blonde hedgehogs

By Linn’s Staff

Six stamps in an April 23 issue from Guernsey Post for Alderney feature the blonde hedgehog, which accounts for over half of the hedgehog population on the island.

Each of the six stamps in the set shows a different photograph of a blonde hedgehog. Blonde coloration is a rare trait in hedgehogs, but an estimated 60 percent of Alderney’s current hedgehog population is blonde.

The stamps all have a different denomination: 69 pence (the rate for standard letters sent within the Bailiwick of Guernsey), 92p (the rate for large letters sent within the Bailiwick of Guernsey), £1.37 (the rate for standard letters sent to the United Kingdom), £1.47 (the rate for postcards sent to Europe), £1.81 (the rate for postcards sent worldwide) and £1.90 (the rate for large letters sent to the United Kingdom).

Standard letters are defined as not exceeding 240 millimeters long, 165mm wide, 5mm thick, with a weight of up to 100 grams. Large letters are defined as not exceeding 350mm long, 250mm wide, 25mm thick, with a weight of up to 750 grams.

According to a March 28 press release from Guernsey Post, hedgehogs were brought to the island as pets in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and a small number of these pets escaped. Today it is believed that the lineage of all the island’s hedgehogs can be traced back to these escapees.

Enough of the escapees must have had a rare recessive gene causing light hair, and before long the island started recording blonde hedgehogs. Today as many as 400-600 Alderney hedgehogs have light hair.

Alderney’s hedgehog population is thought to be stable in spite of populations declining by over a third in the United Kingdom over the past 10 years, the press release said.

The stamps were designed by Chloe Sarre and printed by Bpost in offset lithography in six sheets of 10 (one for each denomination). The stamps measure 40 mm by 30mm.

Guernsey Post also offers a presentation pack including all six stamps as well as a first-day cover franked with the six stamps. The pictorial postmark on the FDC depicts a hedgehog.

The Blonde Hedgehog stamps and related products are available through Guernsey Post online.

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