Palmate Newt

I found this little critter on our kitchen floor late last night. It really was quite tiny. At first I thought it was a slug (my eyesight isn't what it used to be) then I took a closer look and saw it had legs. I then wondered if it might be some kind of lizard, but having shown this same pictures to people who can tell an amphibian from a reptile, I am reliably informed that it is a young female palmate newt.

In hedgehog news, I am putting food and water out and at least one hedgehog is visiting the garden to take advantage of this each night. I have tried resurrecting the trail camera but try as I might I cannot get the battery to charge up, so alas I have no new hedgehog images to share with you.

Developments in May 2013

It's been a long time since I last updated this blog. Unfortunately I had to stop putting food out for the hedgehogs because it was attracting rats which I believe were coming from beneath next door's decking.

Wendy vanished. I'm hoping she just moved on to new pastures.

Fast forwarding now to early May 2013, and we started to notice what appeared to be hedgehog faeces in the upper garden. This happened two or three nights in a row, although I was rather surprised by the quantity of it, and was wondering if perhaps a badger could be responsible.

Now. tonight, I was just looking outside at approx 10:30 to see where Elsa (my cat) had gotten to, when I saw a shape on the lawn. Further investigation revealed:

Yes, I did give this hog a handful of mealworms, which you'll notice in the photo.

I'm so pleased we have hedgehogs again. I'd heard that they are late this year, and that doesn't bode well for their numbers, so I'm especially pleased that we have a hedgehog presence here.

Alas no hedgehogs, but we have a toad!

Here's a toad I found in a bucket of rainwater earlier today.

Unfortunately I have not seen Wendy or any other hedgehogs in the garden for a while now. I had to stop putting out food for them because it was attracting rats. Thankfully as we're in the country there should be plenty of other things for hedgehogs to eat, but it means that don't make such regular visits specifically to the garden now. I am still putting out water for them, that is the least I can do.

A hedgehog and an univited guest too

I think we may have a problem here. As regular readers will know I "invite" hedgehogs into the garden by putting down bowls of water and scattering food (usually mealworms, sometimes peanuts) but now it seems another creature is taking advantage of the free meal and its not really the kind of creature you'd want to encourage. I'm not really sure how I can discourage the rats without also discouraging the hedgehogs. Any ideas?

Hog pictures from Wednesday night

I've reset the clock in the camera so the times at the bottom of the photos should be more realistic.

Last night's hedgehog photos (probably Wendy)

I thought I'd try to get a few still photo captures last night, just for a change. Again, I think this is Wendy because of the dark muzzle and the general size of her. (By the way, ignore the times given at the bottom of each picture - despite having set the time on the camera only the day before, somehow the time shown is wrong by about three hours).

Could this be Wendy?

I can't be 100% sure that this is Wendy, the former "autumn juvenile" hedgehog that we released back into the wild two weeks ago - but (s)he is about the right size and has a dark muzzle just like Wendy. Chances are that it is her.

Wendy meets Elsa

Elsa, my Norwegian Forest Cat, normally sleeps at the end of my bed each night but last night she snuck out for a little while in the early hours of the morning. The trail camera I left out in the garden for the purpose of hedgehog watching shows where she had gotten to. Meanwhile, Wendy the hedgehog (I'm pretty sure that's her because of the dark face) seems unfazed at Elsa's presence.

And don't you just love the way that hedgehogs shake themselves?

Video: The story of Wendy's release into the wild

Sorry they took so long coming, but the first video took all night to be processed.

Wendy is released

Wendy is being released into the wild tonight. I've left her box in a little hidden area down the bottom of the garden and have removed the door so that she can emerge at her leisure. I've been shooting video footage and have some lovely shots of her at Spikes Sanctuary (such as the above still), but I'll wait to see if we get any infra-red footage tonight of her emerging from the box and will post the video tomorrow.