Getting to know you

A quite remarkable thing happened tonight. I'd had a very busy day out in London and was spending all my evening sorting out photos and hopefully some text for another blog that I write, when it occured to me that it was getting late and I hadn't done any hedgehog watching. I had put food and water out already, but when I went out into the garden to see whether there were any hogs about I found they'd already been and gone and eaten all the mealworms in the bowls in the feeding station.

I fetched a tub of worms, knelt down on the patio, took the lid off the feeding station and poured mealworms into the two bowls. I sat back for just a moment and then realised I was not alone. There was a small-ish hedgehog right by my right knee looking at me and twitching its nose, as if to say "About time too! I've been waiting for my dinner."

I was just amazed. I know that the hedgehogs will come if I sit quietly in the garden, but this time I was hardly being quiet. The hog (pictured above) knew exactly what I was doing.

Shortly after this a second hog arrived and they began the snuffling and circling dance. I recorded some of the snuffling on my digital recorder. I'll have a go at seeing if I can succesfully transfer it to my laptop and make an MP3 for you to hear. It's quite a particular sound and you'll understand why I sometimes call them "snufflehogs" when you hear it.