Just when I thought I had seen it all from our prickly friends they’ve managed to surprise me yet again…is there no end to the talents of these deviously clever little creatures! Throughout the torrential downpours of almost biblical proportions over the past week or so, there has been some very strange behaviour. Finally, last night, the rain eased enough to allow the only remaining working trail cam to catch a glimpse of their bizarre clandestine activities. Now we all know that most hedgehogs don’t like rain, yet the dish of cat biscuits on the doorstep, open to the elements and within touching distance of those pesky humans, is always their first port of call. They could dine in the relatively dry and sheltered surroundings of the feeding station or the terracotta hedgehog pot, yet they choose to dine in the rain! Several times over the last week the protective saucer (cat deterrent) has been skilfully removed from the dish with the culprit nowhere to be seen and not a single morsel removed. I don a wetsuit and replace the lid only to find when I next check on it before going to bed, all the contents have been consumed apart from a few waterlogged crumbs.
Then there’s the new hedgehog house…it’s been sat on the patio whilst I find somewhere more suitable to place it, but judging by the soggy offerings that have been deposited in the entrance it has clearly had plenty of use, either that, or yet again it’s not to the little darlings liking! So, what did the camera reveal…well …nothing! The first hog on scene removed the protective saucer from the dish so quickly and scarpered, that even the trusty Bushnell failed to capture the action, it did however capture one emptying the dish during a brief dry spell a couple of hours later. So there you have it…the hogs actually prefer moist biscuits! They dash out to uncover their dinner, take shelter in the new hog house whilst the rain does its job and when the contents of the dish are suitably wet and soggy they emerge during a bit of a lull and demolish the lot…how clever is that!!! 🙂
https://youtu.be/xW-1i0fYHSw