The good, the bad and the wild

Writing to you, looking out of my window I see a new garden scene. Yes that’s right it has come a terrible time of sadness for all. After living in my house for almost 14 years I have moved and left little Russ behind, but don’t worry the new people know he’s there and have said they will continue to look after Russ. Despite the sadness there is some good news in my new garden there is a hedgehog! I left my camera up for a whole week and got two shots of her/him. Although I cannot be certain I hope to continue this hedgehog blog with our new friend, but be aware I am moving house again next month so this time of glory may be short lived:(

It is a little hard to see the hedgehog in this photo but if you go to the tree and look down the photo slightly to the right is our little friend hiding behind a tuft of grass!

More excitement unfolds as well as I am deciding to broaden the blog to talk about the other wildlife in my new garden as there is so much!! Even a fox! quite a few squirrels as well and of coarse no garden would be complete without the good old pigeon.

Rather too lively for me at 8 in the morning

just thought the magpie looked really cute standing next to the buttercup

I have decided as well to hold a competition for the best name as I can’t for the life of me think of a good one for my new hedgehog!! If you want to give my new hedgehog a name please leave a comment with the, “name” – hedgehog, and possibly a like. E.g. “Bob-hedgehog” “like“. Thank so much and I look forward to writing more about whoever are new hedgehog friend is!

He’s back

After a long, long few months I can finally start writing again as we have officially confirmed our litte Russ is back. After his months long vacation in the land of hibernation our little hedgehog is back and prowling the streets so I look forward to spamming you all with adorable photos of our little Russ!!

Russell started hibernation sometime in December and as it was quite mild we weren’t sure whether he would hibernate or not but he ended up doing so which left me Russ free for a few months and I think we can all imagine how that went, but it did give me time to plan few ideas for more hedgehog related posts as well as keeping you up to date with your weekly dose of Russell cuteness,

Bye for now !!

Myths about hedgehogs

Before now I have never heard of any myths surrounding hedgehogs but if u look for them I can find that there are actually many. Most ridiculous and some even laughable here are my favourites:

During the 16th Centaurus some farmers thought that hedgehogs drank cows milk in the night and so hunted hedgehogs. Thousands of hedgehogs were killed for this reason.

The Romans’ used hedgehogs to tell when spring was coming. If the hedgehog came out of its nest and saw its shadow

why do we love hedgehogs SO much

This is one of my BIG questions Why aren’t we so enthusiastic about snails!!

So basically we are programmed to like human babies so that we take care of them and so the human species will continue to thrive and sometimes animals share traits with our human babies for example; puppies have big eyes just like our babies. With hedgehogs it is probably those big eyes which are used for seeing in the dark, but to our brains they look like our babies big eyes. Also, their soft stomachs, even their little size. Fun fact mini copper manufacturers made the front lights on their cars big to mimic the big eyes on a baby and send our cute receptors firing! The reason we like cute animals is that because they look a bit like human babies and we need to look after our babies so we can survive as I have previously mentioned. Well to ensure we like our babies when our cute receptors fire it fires off good feeling chemicals into our brain.

But now have a look at an edited photo showing some of the reasons why we find cute:

Russ update

Thought you all might like to see some more pictures of our favourite little hedgehog. Anyone out there who knows what a pregnant hedgehog looks like??!! Also shortened his name to Russ so it could be either Russella or Russell. I did a quick bit of maths this morning and I figured that we should see our little hoglets between the 1st of September and the 21st of September!! If she is pregnant is she is a she!

coming home exhausted from a hard nights foraging

looking for food where he knows he’ll get it!!

p.s. if any of you want one of these cameras they come from a charity in Wales called nature spy, they are called trap cameras. So just search up nature spy and go to their shop! I personally have the browning type, but there are loads of different cameras to choose from under the browning type and other types:)

If you find an injured hedgehog

Ok so first, if a hedgehog is out in the day time it is probably very ill and although it may not be injured it needs medical care and attention. If you find a hedgehog out during the day time and it is unwell or injured you should call a hedgehog rescue centre. Below I have listed some numbers you could call:

Tiggywinkles – Haddenham near Aylesbury – 01844 292 292

Hedgehog Bottom – Newbury near Reading – 01635 826 120

Hedgehog Rescue – Bristol – 07971 663 009

Prickles Hedgehog Rescue – Cheddar – 07806 744 772

Wild Hogs Hedgehogs Rescue – Gloucester – 07949 967 717

These numbers are to be used in an emergency.

However here is where it gets slightly complicated. Female hedgehogs come out during the day when building their nests for when they have their babies. So how do you tell if it is a hedgehog that needs help or a mother gathering materials for her nest. A sick hedgehog won’t be moving around very much whereas a mother getting materials will be constantly searching around. When hoglets are around 4 weeks old they too sometimes venture out in the day. So if you see little hedgehogs running around in August or September don’t be alarmed they are probably just babies. Also mothers building nests will be going around your garden and taking back to wherever they have decided to build their nest so if the are wondering around with leaves in their mouths don’t worry the hedgehog isn’t sick.

If you do find an injured or sick hedgehog you must put thick gloves on get a box and put the hedgehog in then call you nearest hedgehog rescue centre. Give the hedgehog a bit of water and if you have hedgehog food a little of that as well!!

Watching Our Hedgehog

This is the main reason why I have become so obsessed with hedgehogs and trying to save them. We sometimes go out at night and wait till our little hedgehog comes out. Then we watch him while he goes about his business. It is amazing to think that you have you own hedgehog in you garden and when he walks around it is so magical. You can hear him so loudly crunching on his food and scratching and once he even sniffed my foot, however as the summer drew nearer and nearer Russell was coming out later and later and eventually at midnight. Obviously I wasn’t going to stay out until midnight! Now you might be wondering how I know he came out at midnight. It’s because I bought a trap camera. It is motion sensitive and so when out little hedgehog walks into the frame it takes pictures of him. Here are just a few, of the ones I have, but sometimes we get 40+ in one night!

P00[0:0] E[107:0681]G[076:0x17] BV[55:0] IR[L] — Him at our most recent sighting

C[P] R0S0 T21C:P0000 CAMERA1 M7

C[P] R0S0 T17C:P0000 CAMERA1 M4

C[P] R0S0 T07C:P0000 CAMERA1 M7

C[P] R0S0 T03C:P0000 CAMERA1 M3

Sometimes we get the neighbours cat and because we have a bird feeder we get quite a few other birds on there. Mainly pigeons! However we think that we saw two hedgehogs in June and since then there has only been one. Now hedgehogs mate around May and June and so we think that our Russell may be a Russella and we are expecting hoglets around about now. So stay tuned!!

prickly preparation

Do hedgehogs hibernate?

The answer is yes they do, although they do not hibernate continuously throughout winter every few days they get up to find food. Putting food out during the winter can be a life saver (literally) for hedgehogs, but don’t out out tinned food like tinned cat or dog food as it will freeze! And if you can put water out regularly otherwise this will freeze too.

Hedgehogs traditionally begin hibernation between October and November, however due to climate change hedgehogs are starting hibernation later and later. Some even begin in January as that is the coldest period of winter.

Did you know that during hibernation a hedgehogs body temperature drops to 1-5 degrees, compared to their normal foraging temperature of 34 degrees.

What weight do they have to get up to?

Adult hedgehogs should be at least 500 – 700g. This ensures they have enough fat to keep them going throughout the winter. Despite their regular forages food in Winter is very scarce and so they must put a lot of weight during the plentiful summer to make up for it.

Why do hedgehogs Hibernate?

Hibernation saves energy. As I have already mentioned food is scarce in the winter and if hedgehogs were as active as they are in the summer they would use more energy foraging than the energy given to them by eating food. Therefore to stay in a good energy balance hedgehogs only eat every few days.

Where do hedgehogs hibernate?

Pretty much anywhere in your garden: under a shed, in a compost heap, under piles of brambles of logs, or they might choose a bonfire. This is why you should always check your bonfire before lighting it as this is one way hedgehog numbers have severely reduced.

Hedgehog help here: Hedgehogs in the wild

Hedgehogs have been around for about 15 million years. There 16 different species of hedgehog spread around the world, but in England hedgehogs are in serious decline. We built a hedgehog house a year ago and we’re lucky enough to have a resident – Russell.

In our garden I’ve watched my hedgehog grow from a little hoglet to a young adolescent. I would hate to think that Russell (our hedgehog) is part of a dying breed. It’s strange that children in prehistoric times would have looked at hedgehogs almost exactly the same as Russell.

hedgehog_cave_painting_by_lepisto87-d3c37xu — Hedgehog cave painting

Here are a few tips on how to keep hedgehogs like Russell safe for the next 15 million years!

Check your lawn before cutting it- if you’re cutting anything with strimmers check for hedgehogs as strimmers can cause serious harm to sleeping hedgehogs and they may die from their wounds, also if you are cutting your lawn with the lawn mower check first for hedgehogs, hedgehogs are usually nocturnal, but can sometimes come out in the day to get grass and leaves for their nest, if you do see one out in the day and have any concerns you can ring The British Hedgehog Preservation Society.

Keep your pond topped up and put a shallow ramp in that a hedgehog could walk up to escape the pond. Also you can put a few raised stones in the pond for hedgehogs to stand on. If you take these precautions hedgehogs should be fine as they are actually very good swimmers, but like humans cannot swim forever. Some hedgehogs can drown if the pond isn’t topped up enough.

Check bonfires before lighting them as they provide quite a nice sleeping place for hedgehogs.

I am going to post regular updates on Russell and try and take a good pic, but Russell is quite camera shy and waddles back to his house as soon as he sees a camera!

hedgehog food

Hedgehogs have to eat LOADS of food before hibernation, they have to have lots of fat reserves to keep them going all Winter. Giving hedgehogs food is a really good way to help stop hedgehog populations declining. Also if you put the hedgehog food out in the open the hedgehog will come and get it and so if you go out in evenings you can see your hedgehog close up, I sprinkle them around the garden and you can hear the hedgehogs crunching on them. I have just gone and brought hedgehog food from a supermarket but you can buy them online and in wildlife shops, and my hedgehog always eats all of it, he is surprisingly good at finding all of the little nuggets. I put out my hedgehog food out every other day so that my hedgehog doesn’t become dependent on it, but has enough to keep him in the area and interested. I put out about a handful of pellets by his hedgehog house and then I sprinkle a few more pellets around the garden. This is so that I keep, the hedgehog moving around the garden so he/she can find slug and snail hotspots and as I have mentioned before I can also see my hedgehog close up.

In the wild hedgehogs eat pretty much everything here is a list of what

hedgehog food pellets — tasty food for our prickly friends

they eat:

Beetles
Caterpillars
Earthworms
Bird eggs
Small mammals e.g grass snakes and small lizards
Millipedes
Earwigs
Bees
and finally some small birds

So my dad for the Autumn and Winter moves the compost heap over to near the hedgehog house.

The British Hedgehog Preservation Society is a great website that can give you even more detail on how to look after our prickly friends.