Best not to get me started about new developments!
Until about 4 years ago we rarely saw a hedgehog. Then one late summer evening we saw 2 searching for food underneath the bird feeder. That’s when we started feeding them (though I hold my hands up and confess that at that time I did give them mealworms. I haven’t done that for 3 years now). Anyway, the number of hogs began to increase and the reason became obvious – the building of around 600 dwellings about 1/2 mile away on what was 2 open fields. The building work is almost complete now and we thought that over time maybe the hogs would go back that way to what is now gardens but that doesn’t seem to be happening. It’s not difficult to see why – front gardens that are no more than hardstandings for cars and back gardens that are decked/patio-ed over and barricaded-up with concrete gravelboards at the bottom of fences and scarcely a hog-sized hole to be seen anywhere.
We’re lucky to see so many hogs when many don’t get to see even one but, sadly, it’s only because they’ve been pushed out of their homes and off their foraging grounds by people.
