Hedgehogs of Romney marsh
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Hi,
I have been to n the lookout for hedgehogs in my area after one was squashed on a small country lane. Hedgehog houses installed, holes cored out of the walls and fences of my neighbours and rspb open hedging running around the perimeter onto open scrubland. Nothing so far but remain optimistic. I have seen another squashed one 2 miles away but very sadly last night and the night before 3 fatalities in the same 10 metre stretch of fast road half a mile away. I am really hoping that’s not the entire family unit but apart from this not being good news is this just a sign of bad luck or is this a sign of a more healthy population.
Well done Benmac1. Have you put any food down for them? While they don’t ‘need’ extra food it might help attract them to your garden. Especially as they might still be needing to put on a bit of weight after the big sleep. If you have local cats it is worth creating a feeding station – there are lots of designs on the web but essentially a decent sized plastic crate with a hog sized hole in one end, too small for a cat to get in and maybe a large stone or half brick just inside the crate entrance to stop a cat from “fishing’ for food. My hogs seem perfectly able to limbo over the half brick, so long as it is about 2 inches inside the crate. Plus something on the top to stop the crate from being blown away – or a Really Useful type crate with ‘clips’ to hold the lid in place. Cat food or cat biscuit seems to work well – or special hedgehog food but mine have gone off the” I love hedgehogs” mix for some reason so they are back on the kitten biscuit. Very sad to hear that so many are getting squashed but I do think they seem to be particularly careless just after coming out of hibernation – food and mating on their minds probably!! Good luck
Hi Banmac1
So sad to hear about all the hedgehog fatalities. Don’t forget to enter them on the Big Hedgehog Map – accessed via the Home Page of Hedgehog Street. It all helps to increase the knowledge about hedgehogs. I always think is a fitting way to remember them and it might help other hedgehogs.
As DwarfHog says, it might be partly because they had just come out of hibernation and maybe were still a bit slow/low on energy. But the fact that they were all there is promising in some ways. It sounds as if you have a lovely place for hogs, there. I hope you see some live ones soon – and don’t forget to put them on the Map as well! Good luck.
Noooooooooo! Nic DwarfHog another squashed on on the road near my house last night ! There is an abandoned lane (full of hawthorns and ditches) that runs 2kms from the site of the 3 fatalities to this one just near my house and i have been seeing hedgehog droppings along it so i hope there are more as that quite alot i think for a small area. They appear to be searching in the roadside verges which are thick with dead nettles and full of snails and beetles and then then make the fatal error of trying to cross the road. This is the most i have seen in 20 years down this way, if they can make it another 200 metres then the 3 acres field behind my house is completely enclosed by housing with shallow water ditches, open garden access and thick scrub. It hasn’t been touched in 100 years and is an ideal refuge and i know at least one was there last year but nothing this year. I will mark it on the map
Oh no! Poor you- it’s so hard to keep,finding ones that haven’t quite made it. Hopefully it’s a sign that there are lots more – they do seem very perverse when there is hedgehog paradise so close!
Hi Benmac1
So sad to hear about another dead hog. Difficult to know what to say. Must be really horrible for you. But, sadly it does happen sometimes on certain stretches of road. Sometimes a quiet road is more dangerous, because they aren’t expecting vehicles. But so ironic when you have such a lovely place so close by. Roadkill used to be considered a sign of a good population, but when so many die, it does make you wonder how much loss a population can stand.
Maybe you could try to get a watch out for hedgehogs sign. I understand such things do exist these days, and you have plenty of evidence. I think you might need to speak to your local authority, but it might help if you have worked out a suitable location for such a sign – i.e. not too many other signs around, easily visible, but not reducing visibility, etc. Might be worth a try.
Really hope you have some better news soon. Good luck.
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