Poo spotted despite builder's mess…
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Hi Annie
Oh, that’s sad, I was looking forward to hearing about hoglets! Easy mistake to make. I sometimes find one of my cameras seems to go onto photo without me noticing – I usually have it on video. I probably pressed the wrong thing! But at least you don’t have to worry about the plastic bags. Sounds promising that there are hog visitors there.
7 Jays! That’s amazing. I have a female blackbird who behaves a bit like one of the males used to a couple of years ago. She looks out for me. Even seems to manage to see me when I’m upstairs and flies backwards and forwards in front of the window. She makes me laugh sometimes – lands on top of the water butt (rounded top) and then sort of half flies, half slides down the lid. She’s so clever. She bosses the males as well. Some of them are looking pretty scruffy now, but she still looks pretty neat.
Haven’t seen tiny frog again – it was a dark one, but the slightly bigger one (more patterned) is regularly in my funny little pond. But not that easy to see, so maybe tiny frog is just hiding – hope so. I was wondering how long frogs live for and someone looked it up – apparently up to 8 years! So don’t know what happened to the ones who were here before. I would really love to have a bigger pond, but not sure about the upheaval and my garden is pretty packed, so not much space either.
One of the hogs who had previously managed to avoid the dreaded blobbers turned up blobbed on Sunday night. Friday and Saturday nights seem to be the favourite times for blobbers. Such a shame. Igel still doesn’t seem to be having much luck with the boys. The one I mostly see with her (called Wilf – not sure how that came about, but it seems to have stuck), is just not interested at all, despite her efforts to get his attention. There is another regular male, but I haven’t seen them here at the same time – he never stays so long. But I have seen him rolling Wilf up, so he is obviously the boss of those two!
I now have a ratlet who visits – only one. It’s actually quite sweet (but it’s still quite small), although annoying it keeps eating the hog food! It’s only been visiting for a few days – then it missed one and I thought it might have gone the same way as the rat, but it was back last night. The first time I saw it, I hissed to scare it away (my ‘giant cat’ impersonation!) and unexpectedly, it actually ran towards me – must have been the nearest way to it’s hiding place! But slightly alarming as I was standing in the doorway – it could so easily have got in the house! Very speedy and actually once went right up to Igel and looked as if it prodded her in the face with it’s nose. I don’t think she was very pleased about it! Next time she put her spines forward and it gave up for a while.
Hope you get a tenant in Frankie’s kennel soon.
Hi Nic
I was looking forward to hoglets but not the associated concerns, round here is not the best place to be a baby or adult hog really. Rather like when my very elderly neighbour needed putting to bed at night before I could rest myself & the worry of having to stop her wandering vulnerably around the area, now in the human equivalent of a hog rescue, a comfortable & very nice home which she loves happily.
I keep trying different places for the camera to see what they’re up to out there, very cute full front pic last night of a fairly small hog entering the garden with a raised foot mid walk turning to look at something. They’re so attractive, almost cartoon-like with perfect little toes & fabulous faces & noses! Long live hedgehogs to bring us joy & poo in the garden as plenty of that too.
Ponds take up a lot of room if they’re big, your water is doing its job already as you have assorted froggy friends. Even the smallest area of water is vital & yours is probably big enough for your garden by the sound of things.
You made me laugh with your hissing cat impersonation but your ratlet sounds as if it liked you & was on his way in the house almost. If it went up to Igel maybe it needs glasses though….
Poor Igel, her time will come when Wilf realises what he’s missing, boss hog that he is obviously not.
If I hadn’t seen the pic of the 7 jays I probably wouldn’t have believed it, must have been lots of food on the lawn they liked. Your blackbird is like a female sparrow who used to come & fly back & fore in front of me when I put washing out asking for food. Pete the pigeon still walks the length of the fence & then eats right by my hand as I put the food out, stunning purples & greens in his feathers & glorious red feet. Filling his crop with food then taking it to a nest I think. Prefer his babies to go elsewhere though, one pigeon is enough for me.
Damn the blobbers, hope it washes off the hog in your garden.
Hi Annie
The analogy with your neighbour is lovely. Glad to hear she is happy where she is now.
Totally agree about how attractive the hogs are and such cute little faces with those shiny eyes seeming to always be looking at you.
Re. the ponds, it is so lovely even having my 3 ponds in tubs. For years I thought it was going to be too much effort, but they are so easy. About 20 inches in diameter and 15 inches deep. Two stand on the patio, side by side, and the water is probably about a foot deep and the other is almost completely buried, so I try to keep the water to the top of that one – that’s where the frogs usually are (although they have sometimes made their way into the others, too). All have oxygenating plants and some others (native plants – except, one, a mini water lilly). They all have beaches made from largish pond baskets filled with stones and standing on bricks, so that birds, hedgehogs, etc. have an escape route. They really have been such a delight. No tadpoles yet, sadly, but little water beetles and water boatmen and loads of pond snails – which help to keep them clean of algae. (I love the way they move along upside down on the surface of the water). Also other little pond beasties.
Poor little ratlet disappeared and I fear it probably went the way of the rat. (hope I’m not tempting the appearance of another one by saying that!) But I have a ‘new’ hedgehog visiting – sadly covered in gunk. A male I think, by the way Igel was behaving towards it(!) but quite small so not really interested in her. Looks too big to have been this year’s hoglet but a bit small for last years, so not sure.
Perhaps your brother ought to put the photo of the 7 jays in to the countryfile calendar competition. Must be unusual to see 7. Re. pigeons – we were out somewhere nearby, recently and saw a flock of about 50 and I thought, I hope that lot don’t decide to descend on my garden. I think the most I have had are 3. One, I wonder if it might be a young one, was spending a lot of time just sitting beside the bird feeder. Reminded me of the time I had one youngster here who used to sit in the birdbath. But I usually see one on the camera in the mornings foraging around on the grass and in the borders. So nice to see that they are finding natural food here, too. I love the colouring of them as well.
P.S. Sadly, I think our recent unwelcome visitors have caused the captcha to become more difficult again!
Hi Nic
Your ponds are a bit more sophisticated than mine, I’ve had a small pot pond for a few years, only about a foot high & the same across with rocks in to the bottom so it’s not deep enough to be a problem getting out of as shallow at the top with a Phalaris growing nicely in it – striped green, pink & white pointed leaves. Have seen a lady blackbird having a lovey bath in it but then had to top it up again. Never seen anything much in it but it’s there for anybody who wants to hover – a huge dragon fly did once – or spend time on the leaves.
Last night I had the pleasure of squatting next to a roughly 5″ little hog who had arrived early before I put the food out, while it crunched its way through a handful of hog food I offered it. I noticed the light coming on at 10 & there it was snuffling around the herbs & forget me nots on the path so I took the dish of food out, put it in the feeding station then risked putting some next to little hog. I thought it would run off but it observed me for a bit then started getting stuck in when I didn’t move. Real treat. The camera has been recording multiple visits each night for the last week from around 11 to almost 5 in the morning, mostly small hogs but at least one very large one.
One of our woodpigeons is looking very ruffled & tatty, the pair of them are such regulars & so distinguished looking in their posh suits. Remind me of city gents!! Used to have 2 then one was killed by a bird of prey & it was a few years before the remaining one had a partner again. Looked up life expectancy & it’s from 3-5 years through to 15 depending on circumstances such as predation & human interference.
Has Igel had any luck with the boys yet do you think?
I found a load of the trash the unwelcome visitors left & reported it too, idiotic wasters, hope Captcha gives us a break again, it’s such a pain.
Hi Annie
I think your little pond sounds lovely. Any water in the garden, however small, helps. Although I find they do need frequent topping up, too. Especially when a load of starlings are around! I don’t see the frogs as often as I did with the ones last year. These seem younger and much jumpier and dive at the slightest thing.
So glad to hear you have lots of hogs visiting and that all the upheaval has been forgiven!
That’s really interesting – I would never have imagined a pigeon could live to 15. So it really is very likely that the two here are the same ones who’ve been visiting for a while.
Well I haven’t seen Igel having any luck with the boys, but she has been missing for a couple of nights, which is very unusual for her, so I am hoping!
It seems like captcha isn’t working quite well enough! Seriously, what do they hope to achieve – it’s not even as if we have the most enormous number of random visitors passing through to even see all that nonsense. Certainly wouldn’t have thought it worth all the trouble they go to.
Hi Annie
The really good news is that Siili is home – currently in my kitchen, because it was so hot, awaiting release this evening. Fingers crossed she remembers everything and stays around.
The bad news is that little Igel, who up until now had managed to avoid the dreaded blobbers, has now got a collection of criss crossed lines. One the length of her spined area. I Imagine these people consider themselves to be hedgehog lovers. Well if they do, they should learn to leave them alone and love them for what they are not for how they choose to grafitti them. They should be ashamed of themselves for doing that to hedgehogs or any animal. I feel so sad for her, she doesn’t deserve that – no hog does.
I hope all is well with the hogs there.
Hi Nic
Oh Siili’s home again, that’s great. What a treat for you to have had her in your kitchen briefly, so nice to see them up close & healthy. I’m sure she won’t have forgotten her whereabouts, she’ll be delighted to be back to make the most of your hospitality in your garden.
Hate the blobbers, what does it matter if you’re not sure which hogs are visiting as long as they are. Pathetic. I’ve seen advice on hedgehog sites telling you how to safely mark hogs but would rather they had the guts to come out & say please don’t as it makes them more visible to those who don’t wish them well like we do apart from the danger of potentially sticking their spines together. Humans, I despair of them.
Tried to change my avatar to a lovely baby hog pic from few weeks ago but it cut off the face so have put another which has the date etc on, not the same somehow but that’s it for now til I suss it out.
Having very regular visits from tiny little things & larger, have to put 2 dishes in the feeder nightly as all is eaten. One hog is long & slim, nicely shaped, comes before it gets dark so is on camera in colour. Of course never the face or front, always the side or back because they move too fast for the camera! I can go out & stand by the feeder any time from now (20.24) & he crunches away for ages with his bum by the entrance as he’s pretty long then comes out, through the border, same route every time to Frankie’s kennel where he spends some time after his meal. Feel very lucky that he trusts me as he knows I’m there, pauses for a moment after I arrive then gets on with eating.
Wasps in the attic outside our bathroom window in the front of the house are very active but welcome as long as they leave us alone. The sparrows who nested in the roof again this year above the back bedroom window apparently have blocked the gutter (again) as I discovered during the terrific thunderstorm we had a couple of weeks ago! Wildlife everywhere, my home is their home.
How are things with the hogs?
Yes, Siili is free again! It has been several days of mixed emotions.
Yes, it was lovely having little Siili in the kitchen although I really wanted her to be in her box outside to get really used to it. But never mind, she was in the outside box, sleeping, for a couple of hours before I opened the door. Not as nice as you might think, having her in the kitchen – she was a bit smelly! No wonder she started self-anointing before she came out of the outside box! I had never actually seen it before and she was partially hidden, but it was definitely what she was doing.
It was about 2 hours after opening the door, before she came out and then she had a wander around before disappearing into the bushes. Would you believe it, on checking the camera the next morning I found that it had caught none of that, which meant that I didn’t get a chance to see what she looked like on video, post-injury.
The next night there was no sign of Siili on the video, nor the next, nor the next. I tried to convince myself that one of the other hogs could be her, but they all had two bright shiny eyes and I thought it would be strange if Siili suddenly did. I was beginning to wonder whether I would ever see her again.
Then last night I looked down from upstairs and saw a smallish hog, so rushed down with my binoculars, just in time to see who I thought must be Siili disappearing. This morning I checked the video with some trepidation and there was a hog with no eyeshine! And at the right time. Unfortunately, she left almost immediately.
The camera let me down again and didn’t capture her arrival. But, then I saw her again on the other camera on the grass. So, I have no idea whether she has actually been visiting every night but been wearing her invisibility cloak! But really hope she will be here again tonight. I expect you can imagine – I was thinking maybe she wouldn’t remember where she was after such a long time, did I do right to put the case for her to return, etc., etc. So it was such a relief to see her safe and well again and FREE. Although I don’t imagine that will stop me worrying about her!
The rest of the hogs seem o.k. apart from the grafitti. Igel – not sure why she was absent for a while, because she seems to be back as normal, with no sign of hoglets – although maybe she’s keeping some hidden somewhere. I did think I saw the rear of a smallish one disappearing into a flower border one night, but possibly too big to have been hers. Most of the rest are males. Although there is a newish one, who I’m not sure about yet.
Lovely that you have lots of hogs there, Annie, and youngsters as well! Sad that you couldn’t get the little one on your avatar. Although I am finding, recently I don’t seem to be able to get them bigger as easily, so not so easy to see any detail. Brilliant that Frankie’s kennel is being used again. Typical hog presenting the camera with a good rear view!
I have wasps in the roof too. Unfortunately, they pass the bedroom window on their way in, but so far have managed not to become trapped in the house. Sparrows blocking the guttering a bit of an occupational hazard. They seem to be quite keen to fill them up again as soon as they are emptied. Luckily because my house has dormers, the bit they use is only fairly short – but still provides lots of water for my water butts. Not really sure how the whole system isn’t completely blocked! Although I do have some scrunched up chicken wire in the top of the downpipe, which seems to help.
Lots of butterflies around at the moment – including 1 or 2 painted ladies. I heard that we are supposed to be getting lots of those this year. Not sure what they are going to make of the weather that is threatened for the weekend
There seems to be a problem with posts appearing. So I’m just writing this to see if it will prompt the previous one to appear!
Well that didn’t work. So I will try to post what I said before, at the risk of it appearing twice (as it had already appeared in the index before this post).
Yes, Siili is free again! It has been several days of mixed emotions.
Yes, it was lovely having little Siili in the kitchen although I really wanted her to be in her box outside to get really used to it. But never mind, she was in the outside box, sleeping, for a couple of hours before I opened the door.
Not as nice as you might think, having her in the kitchen – she was a bit smelly! No wonder she started self-anointing before she came out of the outside box! I had never actually seen it before and she was partially hidden, but it was definitely what she was doing.
It was about 2 hours after opening the door, before she came out and then she had a wander around before disappearing into the bushes. Would you believe it, on checking the camera the next morning I found that it had caught none of that, which meant that I didn’t get a chance to see what she looked like on video, post-injury.
The next night there was no sign of Siili on the video, nor the next, nor the next. I tried to convince myself that one of the other hogs could be her, but they all had two bright shiny eyes and I thought it would be strange if Siili suddenly did.
I was beginning to wonder whether I would ever see her again. Then last night I looked down from upstairs and saw a smallish hog, so rushed down with my binoculars, just in time to see who I thought must be Siili disappearing. This morning I checked the video with some trepidation and there was a hog with no eyeshine! And at the right time. Unfortunately, she left almost immediately.
The camera let me down again and didn’t capture her arrival. But, then I saw her again on the other camera on the grass. So, I have no idea whether she has actually been visiting every night but been wearing her invisibility cloak! But really hope she will be here again tonight. I expect you can imagine – I was thinking maybe she wouldn’t remember where she was after such a long time, did I do the right thing putting the case for her return, etc., etc. So it was such a relief to see her safe and well again and FREE. Although I don’t imagine that will stop me worrying about her!
The rest of the hogs seem o.k. apart from the grafitti. Igel – not sure why she was absent for a while, because she seems to be back as normal, with no sign of hoglets – although maybe she’s keeping some hidden somewhere. I did think I saw the rear of a smallish one disappearing into a flower border one night, but possibly too big to have been hers. Most of the rest are males. Although there is a newish one, who I’m not sure about yet.
Lovely that you have lots of hogs there, Annie, and youngsters as well! Sad that you couldn’t get the little one on your avatar. Although I am finding, recently I don’t seem to be able to get them bigger as easily, so not so easy to see any detail. Brilliant that Frankie’s kennel is being used again. Typical hog presenting the camera with a good rear view!
I have wasps in the roof too. Unfortunately, they pass the bedroom window on their way in, but so far have managed not to become trapped in the house. Sparrows blocking the guttering a bit of an occupational hazard. They seem to be quite keen to fill them up again as soon as they are emptied. Luckily because my house has dormers, the bit they use is only fairly short – but still provides lots of water for my water butts. Not really sure how the whole system isn’t completely blocked! Although I do have some scrunched up chicken wire in the top of the downpipe, which seems to help.
Lots of butterflies around at the moment – including 1 or 2 painted ladies. I heard that we are supposed to be getting lots of those this year. Not sure what they are going to make of the weather that is threatened for the weekend.
This is crazy. I just posted it again, and it appeared, but then did an edit and it’s disappeared again.
So at the risk of it appearing 3 times I’ll try again (good thing I kept a copy!):
Yes, Siili is free again! It has been several days of mixed emotions.
Yes, it was lovely having little Siili in the kitchen although I really wanted her to be in her box outside to get really used to it. But never mind, she was in the outside box, sleeping, for a couple of hours before I opened the door.Not as nice as you might think, having her in the kitchen – she was a bit smelly! No wonder she started self-anointing before she came out of the outside box! I had never actually seen it before and she was partially hidden, but it was definitely what she was doing.
It was about 2 hours after opening the door, before she came out and then she had a wander around before disappearing into the bushes. Would you believe it, on checking the camera the next morning I found that it had caught none of that, which meant that I didn’t get a chance to see what she looked like on video, post-injury.
The next night there was no sign of Siili on the video, nor the next, nor the next. I tried to convince myself that one of the other hogs could be her, but they all had two bright shiny eyes and I thought it would be strange if Siili suddenly did.
I was beginning to wonder whether I would ever see her again. Then last night I looked down from upstairs and saw a smallish hog, so rushed down with my binoculars, just in time to see who I thought must be Siili disappearing. This morning I checked the video with some trepidation and there was a hog with no eyeshine! And at the right time. Unfortunately, she left almost immediately. The camera let me down again and didn’t capture her arrival. But, then I saw her again on the other camera on the grass. So, I have no idea whether she has actually been visiting every night but been wearing her invisibility cloak! But really hope she will be here again tonight. I expect you can imagine – I was thinking maybe she wouldn’t remember where she was after such a long time, did I do the right thing putting the case for her return, etc., etc. So it was such a relief to see her safe and well again and FREE. Although I don’t imagine that will stop me worrying about her!
The rest of the hogs seem o.k. apart from the grafitti. Igel – not sure why she was absent for a while, because she seems to be back as normal, with no sign of hoglets – although maybe she’s keeping some hidden somewhere. I did think I saw the rear of a smallish one disappearing into a flower border one night, but possibly too big to have been hers. Most of the rest are males. Although there is a newish one, who I’m not sure about yet.
Lovely that you have lots of hogs there, Annie, and youngsters as well! Sad that you couldn’t get the little one on your avatar. Although I am finding, recently I don’t seem to be able to get them bigger as easily, so not so easy to see any detail. Brilliant that Frankie’s kennel is being used again. Typical hog presenting the camera with a good rear view!
I have wasps in the roof too. Unfortunately, they pass the bedroom window on their way in, but so far have managed not to become trapped in the house. Sparrows blocking the guttering a bit of an occupational hazard. They seem to be quite keen to fill them up again as soon as they are emptied. Luckily because my house has dormers, the bit they use is only fairly short – but still provides lots of water for my water butts. Not really sure how the whole system isn’t completely blocked! Although I do have some scrunched up chicken wire in the top of the downpipe, which seems to help.
Lots of butterflies around at the moment – including 1 or 2 painted ladies. I heard that we are supposed to be getting lots of those this year. Not sure what they are going to make of the weather that is threatened for the weekend.
Sorry if this appears 3 times!
Written 7.8.19 Apologies if you get this twice.
Yes, Siili is free again! It has been several days of mixed emotions.
Yes, it was lovely having little Siili in the kitchen although I really wanted her to be in her box outside to get really used to it. But never mind, she was in the outside box, sleeping, for a couple of hours before I opened the door.
Not as nice as you might think, having her in the kitchen – she was a bit smelly! No wonder she started self-anointing before she came out of the outside box! I had never actually seen it before and she was partially hidden, but it was definitely what she was doing.It was about 2 hours after opening the door, before she came out and then she had a wander around before disappearing into the bushes. Would you believe it, on checking the camera the next morning I found that it had caught none of that, which meant that I didn’t get a chance to see what she looked like on video, post-injury.
The next night there was no sign of Siili on the video, nor the next, nor the next. I tried to convince myself that one of the other hogs could be her, but they all had two bright shiny eyes and I thought it would be strange if Siili suddenly did.
I was beginning to wonder whether I would ever see her again. Then last night I looked down from upstairs and saw a smallish hog, so rushed down with my binoculars, just in time to see who I thought must be Siili disappearing. This morning I checked the video with some trepidation and there was a hog with no eyeshine! And at the right time. Unfortunately, she left almost immediately. The camera let me down again and didn’t capture her arrival. But, then I saw her again on the other camera on the grass. So, I have no idea whether she has actually been visiting every night but been wearing her invisibility cloak! But really hope she will be here again tonight. I expect you can imagine – I was thinking maybe she wouldn’t remember where she was after such a long time, did I do the right thing putting the case for her return, etc., etc. So it was such a relief to see her safe and well again and FREE. Although I don’t imagine that will stop me worrying about her!
The rest of the hogs seem o.k. apart from the grafitti. Igel – not sure why she was absent for a while, because she seems to be back as normal, with no sign of hoglets – although maybe she’s keeping some hidden somewhere. I did think I saw the rear of a smallish one disappearing into a flower border one night, but possibly too big to have been hers. Most of the rest are males. Although there is a newish one, who I’m not sure about yet.
Lovely that you have lots of hogs there, Annie, and youngsters as well! Sad that you couldn’t get the little one on your avatar. Although I am finding, recently I don’t seem to be able to get them bigger as easily, so not so easy to see any detail. Brilliant that Frankie’s kennel is being used again. Typical hog presenting the camera with a good rear view!
I have wasps in the roof too. Unfortunately, they pass the bedroom window on their way in, but so far have managed not to become trapped in the house. Sparrows blocking the guttering – a bit of an occupational hazard. They seem to be quite keen to fill them up again as soon as they are emptied. Luckily because my house has dormers, the bit they use is only fairly short – but still provides lots of water for my water butts. Not really sure how the whole system isn’t completely blocked! Although I do have some scrunched up chicken wire in the top of the downpipe, which seems to help.
Lots of butterflies around at the moment – including 1 or 2 painted ladies. I heard that we are supposed to be getting lots of those this year. Not sure what they are going to make of the weather that is threatened for the weekend.
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