Hi Penny
Will I ever learn. I started writing and then went to have a closer look at the photo and it all disappeared! So here goes again.
I’m not sure. Any chance you could get a colour pic? Not asking for much am I! Or alternatively, did you have a b/w pic originally. It is easier to compare like with like. Although there are similarities, from what I can see, so far, my feeling is it’s inconclusive. Firstly there is the pale patch between the ears and above the diamond – but this could be caused by a quirk of the lighting. Then there is some ‘shadowing’ below the diamond going down towards the nose on the original and there is a sort of ‘v’ shaped pale bit immediately above the nose and the inside of her ears look dark (but has she got them back). Again these could be quirks of the camera. But on the original pic the dark patches which go down from the eyes to the nose seem to go down to a ‘v’ and on the new pic it looks as if it is more straight across, although on the right hand pic it looks slightly more v like. Also, I would have expected to see 3 pale patches on the face, but maybe they just don’t show up very well on the b/w pic. I usually use a combination of things, including the colour of the spines, skirts and the band between and not only from one pic or one angle. On the original photo she looks to have quite dark spines and comparatively pale ‘ruff’. I always find sketches and notes are more reliable records to keep and real time observations always best.
However. All that goes right out the window, because she was still fairly young when you last saw her and her face may have grown a bit. Their facial markings do tend to change a bit when they are very young. The ‘v’ could have straightened out a bit if her face grew. Sometimes pale patches, such as that above her nose, can become less pale, etc. If you had any other photos, there are some other features, such as the dark patch on her foot (new pic) going up at an angle. They do both have a pale patch (particularly obvious on her left side) just behind the nose, underneath the dark ‘teardrops’. Is that what you meant by pale patches either side of the nose? Sorry, I’m not much help, but from those photos alone, I wouldn’t like to say for certain either way. The main thing is you have another female back and you are best placed, being able to see her in ‘real life’, to see the details better. You may never know for sure, but, if you immediately thought she was Fern when you saw her, she may well be. The original photo showed a beautiful hedgehog and the new ones show a beautiful hedgehog. I hope she carries on visiting.
