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).

Nearly hibernation time

Sorry, no pictures, but I saw a hedgehog tonight eating the mealworms I'd put down in the garden. I was beginning to wonder if they had started hibernation already and perhaps the birds were eating the mealworms. So, I think I'll continue putting food out for a while at least.

Sorry for the long break in posting...

...unfortunately my trail camera has been giving me nothing but trouble and I haven't been able to use it at all. But I have been feeding the hogs each and every night, although I rarely see them these days. It's not like when I was in Oxfordshire and the hogs came right up onto the patio and I could view them through the window. The hogs here are very shy and rarely venture further than the very bottom of the garden.

I just went outside a few minutes ago and photographed this small-ish hog. It's not the best picture, I know, but I just thought it was about time I updated this blog.

Heron fishing in Newport, Pembrokeshire

Here's a heron I videoed whilst on a walk yesterday.

(More hedgehogs soon - the trail camera battery takes an AGE to re-charge!)

Hedgehogs stills from Tuesday night

After what I was saying yesterday, I decided last night that conditions might be right for capturing some stills using the trail camera. I put food out at one end of the lowest slate step into the back garden and the camera at the other. I'm sure the wet weather helped combat white out too! And these are the photos that resulted - only a handful, mind you, before the battery ran out (again!).

(Times removed from photos because the time setting on the camera was wrong!)

Monday night's hedgehog

Apologies if this blog has been a little video-heavy recently. In previous years I liked to vary the posts some more, so sometimes we had photos, sometimes videos, and sometimes slideshows. Alas, I can't seem to get decent stills from my trail camera at the moment. I find that the infrared is just bouncing back and whiting out the whole picture. Some of you will remember I took various measure to combat this in the past in the previous location by laying down black non-reflective rubber mats on the ground, taping up the LEDs on the camera, etc. Well, I've used the tape on the camera again, but the mats would seem a little incongruous here, I feel. Still, here's a colour photo I snapped last night. I don't like to do too many of these because of having to use the flash. I don't think the hedgehogs get too spooked by the flash, but nevertheless I prefer not to use it.

Hedgehogs and other animals on the bottom step

Last night I put a bowl of food on the bottom slate step leading into the lower garden, partly to see if the hedgehogs were willing to roam around the garden a bit more and not just stay in the bottom left corner by the compost heap, and partly because I thought the video would be better with the slate beneath them rather than grass and without foliage causing infrared light bounce-back to the camera.

Come the morning a number of birds also make an appearance, as does Elsa.

Hedgehogs courting

You have to feel sorry for the female hedgehog... the male's idea of "foreplay" is hardly the most romantic!

Hedgehogs videoed in our garden in Pembrokeshire, Wales, on Friday night, 1 July 2011.