January hedgehogs
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Saw hedgehog foraging in the garden one evening in mid-January. Dusted off the feeder and trailcamera and s/he has been visiting every night since. Fairly mild winter (until last couple of days) here in north of Scotland. Relative also has hedgehog active in garden in SW Scotland.
Hi Mags63
Interesting that you have a hog there. There are 3 possibilities:
The hog may not have hibernated at all, but only recently moved further afield into your garden in the hope of finding food. Some hogs do decide not to hibernate at all – it seems most often hoglets, although some could have been early hoglets and so already look quite big.
It may have come out from hibernation and be planning (or have been planning to go back into hibernation). Hogs are known to emerge during hibernation and even move nests. But as it found plenty of food, it decided to stay around. But it could still go back into hibernation – although it seems unlikely after this long.
Or, it’s come out of hibernation, intending not to go back into hibernation. The males tend to go into hibernation earlier than the females and emerge earlier. i.e. I had a hog here (I think probably a female) who didn’t disappear until mid January – hopefully to hibernate, whereas the males were tucked up in their nest months earlier. It does seem early for the hog there to have come fully out of hibernation, but as you say, it’s been a fairly mild winter.
Well done feeding the hog – there may still not be much wild food around, so it will probably be depending on you. I’m guessing you’re offering water as well. It’s a good idea to leave water available for hogs all day every day, including winter in case a thirsty hog happens along.
Good luck. I hope all goes well. Happy hog watching!
hello Nic, I fed hedgehogs up until late October when they stopped coming to the feeder. I know there were three different ones at least. One had to be rescued by the SSPCA in mid October when I found it sunbathing in the middle of the day; it was a good length but thin. I assumed they had hibernated until I saw this one quite by chance last month. Weighed in at between 700 and 800g. The trailcam has seen it in the feeder every night since then. There is water every day throughout the year. The previous winter, there were hedgehogs visiting right into early December.
Coincidentally my sister who lives down in Galloway in SW Scotland also fed hedgehogs during the summer and autumn and also saw one by chance about two weeks ago. It barely weighed 400g and the local rehabilitator who took it away described it as “absolutely starving”. Since then my sister has also dusted off her feeder and trailcam and has had recorded nightly visits. I live near sea level just outside Dingwall in Ross-shire and we have had fairly mild winter until last couple of days with only a handful of frosty nights.
Hog(s?) still visiting the feeder, even in the minus 3/4 frost on Thursday night. My sister also has regular visits – temperature where she lives was down to minus 5 the other night. Delivery of new hog food yesterday, trying a different dry food as it/they tend to ignore the usual brand; and also buying Spikes semi-moist for the first time. As well as the usual 150g tray of meaty dog food, a handful of the new dry food and another of the semi-moist were all scoffed. The trailcam in the feeder showed visits from 10pm until 6.30 this morning. A few of the clips in the middle of the night indicated that the hog might have been self-anointing – certainly looked like saliva.
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