The baby hedgehog has been back each night since I first saw it. Often it seems to be with another hog - possibly the mother. I did consider that there may be more than one baby, but I've not seen two at the same time, and this one does seem to have some distinctive markings on its back. Anyway, these photos are from Tuesday night, 29 July. They are a bit more glary than usual because I forgot to put the rubber mats down again after washing them. Note also, Elsa is in a few of the photos. She loves watching the hogs - it's the highlight of her day!
Well, I've noticed one or two smaller hogs visiting recently, but none as small as this little baby. You don't get a good idea of scale in the photo, but trust me, it's a little one.
Today I have a couple of colour photos for you. The hedgehogs don't seem to mind me being out in the garden at the same time as them - so long as I move about slowly and quietly, and don't make any sudden moves. This little one pictured above is in front of the tomato grow bags, whilst in the next picture we see another hog at the secondary feeding station at the bottom of the garden.
Out of curiousity, I wondered how much hedgehog activity there would be in the garden on the night of the Summer Soltice, the shortest hours of darknesss in the year. Below is a slideshow presentation showing all the night's captures. Note, at 11:18pm Elsa gets into shot. I had just put some more mealworms down (funny that the camera didn't photograph me) and also threw down a piece of over-ripe banana, which is what Elsa was investigating and which can be seen in subsequent frames getting gradually smaller and smaller. So there we have it - proof that hedgehogs like banana!
This hog couldn't wait for darkness to fall and was happily munching on mealworms, sunflower seeds and chopped peanuts while it was still dusk, shortly before 10pm tonight. Neither did it seem bothered by my presence nor Elsa bombing around the garden like a mad thing.
OK, these aren't our usual kind of "hogs" on this blog and they aren't even wildlife, but I had to share these photos with you. I was in Oxford yesterday and saw these woolly pigs amongst some animals that were being shown as part of a "Garden Festival" at the Oxford Castle complex. Apparently they are a rare pedigree breed known as Mangalitza pigs.
This blog was originally set up to make a record of hedgehog activity in my garden in South Oxfordshire, plus any other wild animals that crossed my path. However, I've since moved to Pembrokeshire in Wales. Luckily I have found hedgehogs here too, and I'm always on the look-out for other wildlife.
The baby hedgehog has been back each night since I first saw it. Often it seems to be with another hog - possibly the mother. I did consider that there may be more than one baby, but I've not seen two at the same time, and this one does seem to have some distinctive markings on its back. Anyway, these photos are from Tuesday night, 29 July. They are a bit more glary than usual because I forgot to put the rubber mats down again after washing them. Note also, Elsa is in a few of the photos. She loves watching the hogs - it's the highlight of her day!
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