Environment / times of sightings ??

[Nic]

Unfortunately the pale patches on her nose didn’t show up very well when she finally left her release box – seen through binoculars. She and Aceus – that was a bit of a joke name, but has stuck- still creep around low to the ground. Very good at avoiding the night cams. Her face was still slightly shortened when the photo was taken – she had only just unrolled. She has, though got a very pale skirt, which is another useful id. aid. I find the hoglets do tend to start looking a bit different as they grow so the ‘mug shots’ have to be revisited. I don’t find photos all that helpful with id’ing them – you can get much more detail on, if you do a sketch, even if, like me, you are not much of an artist!

Beware of the scarred nose. I used to have a big boy hog visitor called Barenose. Not only did other boys turn up with bare noses as well, but his healed over. By then he was Barenose and Barenose he remained, even when he no longer had a bare nose!

[jan]

I am so happy, one of our hogs has come back this year. It’s been around three weeks with nightly visits. He (we just call him he (Ralph)) is usually here around 9.30, but the security cameras have picked him up later. He usually makes several visits each night we have discovered. We have a feeding station for him and he goes in with no hesitation. We feed commercial hog food and lots of meal worms which are always devoured. We have just bought a hedgehog house and put it behind the wood pile, this seems to be where he comes into the garden from. We had two in the garden at the same time last year, one had a much lighter face but so far we have only seen the one. I’m so thrilled he’s back, and must confess I get worried if I haven’t seen him before I go to bed. I’m going to put him a bit of cat meat down for him now in his feeding box

[Nic]

Hi Jan
Really pleased for you that the hedgehog has returned there. I know what you mean about getting worried not seeing a hedgehog before going to bed. I am the same here.

Sounds like you are doing all the right things. Lucky hogs having a wood pile and a hog house. The only thing I would suggest is – go easy on the mealworms, they do love them, but they should really only be a ‘garnish’ or a snack – they don’t have very much nutritional value. But perhaps that’s what you meant as you are feeding hedgehog food as well. And, of course, make sure there is always plenty of water – they do seem to drink a lot. Another idea, if you are ever lifting any turf, is to pile that up upside down and make a beetle bank. I found out, by mistake, how quickly the beetles move in.

The hogs here do tend to make multiple visits and this time of year they seem to be doing a lot of rushing around. It always makes me smile, that they usually seem to use the path here and can be surprisingly nippy. It sometimes looks as if they are trying to win the record for the 100 metres sprint!

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