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Hi everyone!
I’m new to this forum, but so happy to have somewhere to share and chat about hedgehogs!
We’ve had them living in our pampas grass for years, but this year we’ve got a baby!! I’ve named him Bruce. Mr Prickes (the adult male) is always out and about, he usually bumbles over if we go to the washing line in the evenings to see what’s going on, he seems quite a tame fellow! We spotted the baby (at least we think it’s a young one) a few nights ago, it’s considerably smaller than the one we usually see, and he’s very nervous around us, so we don’t bother him but he’s super adventurous! We’ve been putting water out every night, and have just ordered a little feeding station/house, although they are quite well protected by the huge pampas grass, I still worry as the local cats have cottoned on to them, and about a month ago I’m sure I saw a cat come out of it with something in its mouth. Any ideas on how we can make the garden even more hedgehog friendly would be great!!
Hi Bloop45
Welcome to the Forum! Great to hear you have hedgehogs there.
Cats don’t normally bother hedgehogs, other than try to eat their food, so I wouldn’t worry too much about them. It’s possible if your pampas grass is so big, that there are other creatures living in there too which the cat might have found.
Brilliant that you are providing water. I would leave some out all day every day. At this time of year nursing mothers sometimes come out during the day time for a rest from the hoglets. Also, it’s often easier for hogs to find food in the wild than to find water, so useful to provide some , just in case a really thirsty hog comes out during the day. I have several watering places (wide but shallow plant saucers are ideal) and the birds also make good use of them! If you’re trying to make your garden more wildlife friendly, you might even consider a pond. Just make sure there is an easy place for hogs to get out.
There is some information about wildlife gardening here:
https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/help-hedgehogs/helpful-garden-features/Just one other thing, if you are creating some new flower border (or even a pond) and need to remove some turf, you can put it into piles (upside down) and make a beetle bank as another feature of your wildlife garden.
Good luck and happy hog watching.
Hi thanks for the reply! We’ve had a pond for years and in the process of trying to make some kind of ramp, but things get knocked off around the pond a lot this time of year so we think they’ve been using it, but we want to be extra safe! Our garden is full of little spots for them, and tonight I put some food down, the youngster came running across the garden, wasn’t bothered by me at all, and went straight for the food so he must have been hungry! Very lucky to have been so close to him at the right time and got some photos!
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