Hi Annie
That is so irresponsible of RSPB not to check out that information before publishing. Well done emailing them. The only thing is, I fear they may take little notice of what’s on the Forum and may need something with more authority. I don’t know what can be done about it, but it really is the worst time of year for people to start feeding mealworms, when the hogs need good nutritious food in the run up to hibernation. I feel at the very least they should put a correction on their website and print a correction to it in their next magazine. But very many people will have seen it who don’t look at the website and what is worse will believe it because it was in an RSPB magazine. Here are some links which you may want to pass to the RSPB.
Hedgehog Street link about mealworms.
https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/help-hedgehogs/i-feed-hedgehogs-mealworms/
Metabolic bone disease Caroline Gould from Vale. (metabolic bone disease video can be accessed via this link)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/valewildlife/permalink/10154859819758195/?pnref=story
Little Silver Heddgehog from 2017 hedgehog with metabolic bone disease
https://littlesilverhedgehog.com/2017/01/30/hedgehog-with-metabolic-bone-disease/
I wonder whether it is worth contacting Emily at Hedgehog Street (email at bottom of page). I don’t think I can really do it because I haven’t seen the article.
Onto lighter matters! Nala certainly sounds as if she likes the limelight! The hoglets here are still out and about as is Mask, with the occasional absence. Unfortunately poor Mask looks as if he’s been blobbed again. I think he was an early hoglet as he isn’t all that big. Just the three of them at the moment – except the mouse is back and last night, unfortunately, a rat. I hope they don’t decide to do a ‘Horace’. That was quite hard work trying to make sure there was food for him and not the rats and cats all winter!
I was cutting back my wild flower patch the other day (I do it all by hand, either pulling or cutting tougher things with small one hand shears) when a baby frog hopped out. I felt a bit mean for spoiling it’s home, but managed to catch it and move it to another nearby area of long grass. The grass had to be cut, otherwise it would just take over the whole area, at the expense of the flowers. But, it made it feel all the more worthwhile doing it all by hand. If someone had strimmed the area, the poor frog would almost certainly have been strimmed as well. It just shows, though that there can be frogs which aren’t all that close to a pond. I haven’t seen the frogs in the pond recently but I suppose it’s getting a bit cold for them.
I have been seeing some nice groups of starlings flying around – a very mini-murmuration, but still lovely to see. Especially when they all waterfall down onto a berry bush. There is a real whoosh when they all fly over.
