The hog is back...

...good thing too as I've just stocked up on a whole load of mealworms.

I think I'd best clean out and refresh that water bowl tomorrow. It looks rather green, doesn't it?

A 2014 hedgehog at last!

Just when this blog seemed dead and forgotten... I know, I haven't posted for over a year. Unfortunately, it wasn't until last night that I've actually seen a hedgehog this year. I don't know where they have been but the usual signs that they were visiting the garden (i.e. hedgehog poo) were not apparent until about two weeks ago.

Really great to see this little chap.

And in other news we seem to have bats nesting in the roof!

Photographic eveidence of one of our summer visitors

I've commented earlier this year that my infrared trail cam is unfortunately out of action, but I have still been putting food and water out for the hedgehogs. Here's one such visitor photographed tonight - I didn't want to get too close and risk scaring him/her away.

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.

Here's the video evidence that we have a hedgehog visiting

Here's the first video evidence that we have a hedgehog visiting our garden this year here in Pembrokeshire, Wales. We're shortly going to release Wendy, an autumn juvenile from 2011 who went into Spike's Sanctuary hedgehog hospital for overwintering because she was not big enough to survive hibernation - and I really wanted to check that there were other hedgehogs here first before releasing her back into the wild.

Sorry for the quality of the video. It seems that every year when I get the trail camera out, I forget how the infra-red totally whitewashes the picture.

Good News!

At approx 9:30 tonight I spied a hedgehog in the garden at the waterbowl (also where I'd scattered a few mealworms). I was beginning to think we'd get no hedgehog visitors this years. Photos to follow (hopefully)...

An Adder at Poppit Sands, Pembrokeshire

We all know that adders like to live in sand dunes, but it's rare you get to actually see one. This particular adder was crossing the path leading up to the wooden-decked footpath running alongside Poppit life boat station. I was lucky that I just so happened to have my camera on my at the time. The snake didn't hang around too long to be photographed, and slithered into the long grass of the dunes pretty sharpish.

In other news, I have been putting out some food for the hedgehogs down the bottom of the garden. Something - or several somethings - have been eating it, but I am not 100% certain that it's hedgehogs as yet. I believe they are very late in coming out of hibernation this year what with the weather conditions we've been having. Mary at Spike's Sanctuary in nearby Clunderwen says that Wendy is only just coming out of hibernation now and that we can have her back to let loose down the end of the garden soon-ish. I would like to be certain there are some other hedgehog companions for her before we have her back though!

Wendy News!

I received the following email this morning from Mary Lane at Spikes Sanctuary in Clunderwen:

Hi Gavin

Many thanks for the most beautiful card. Wendy is snoring her head off, as she weighs so much now and is fit and healthy, I have let her hibernate - although, typical Wendy she wakes up for the odd 'snack'!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Best wishes

Mary

Check those bonfires for nesting hedgehogs, please!

There's a picture of me with Wendy the little hog I rescued recently in this week's edition of the Western Telegraph! It's not the most flattering picture of me (I'd just come in from some really ghastly weather outside and am looking somewhat "windswept". Oh well, it's a nice pic of Wendy, anyway.)

The piece in the paper is asking people to check their bonfires for hedgehogs before lighting them, something I feel that needs national exposure. The idea of poor hedgehogs being burnt alive is just too horrible to think about.

The little hog goes to Spike's Sanctuary

The little hog was so lively throughout the night that I didn't have much sleep; I was overly worried and kept checking on her (yes, it turns out she is a girl) at regular intervals. She made a right mess of the pet carrier box I'd put her in, and managed to drag her bedding into the water bowl, to rip up the newspaper at the bottom of the box, splash water over it and make it into a mushy pulp, and also she seemed to be quite adept at sitting in her water bowl.

In the morning we braved the terrible weather and drove out to Clynderwen and left her in the capable hands of Mary Lane at Spike's Sanctuary. It was a pleasure to meet Mary, a lady who is so devoted to these beautiful creatures and who does so much to help this now endangered species.

Mary has asked me if I'd like to name the little hedgehog, who apparently has been eating well tonight. I'm afraid my mind is a blank at the moment. Any suggestions?

It's Autumn Juvenile time again!

I've got an autumn juvenile that I just brought in. He weighs in at approx 470g when he should be at least 600g to survive hibernation.

He's currently safe in a pet carrier box with towels for warmth, a bowl of dogfood and another of water. The box has been placed in a warm, dark room. When I checked on him just now he was sleeping.

I'm planning on taking him in to a local rescue centre tomorrow.  Sorry, no photos as yet (I've left my camera out in the car).