Since the last garden 'post' I've built another hedgehog house, actually built this one myself from scratch - 'hashtag proud', From Scratch! I did this after seeing two hedgehogs around the original house. I had concerns that maybe one had been displaced from somewhere else and might turf out our existing tenant.
(I've since read that they do co-habit on rare occasions).
A trip to Wickes for some bricks and a pet shop for some bedding and I set about building House Number Two.. This one was built at the other end of the garden, the house end, next to the conservatory.. A perfect place to view activity from the warmth of the house..
Under the shelter of a holly type bush, (that will offer a bit of frost protection) I built three layers of bricks, with a sheltered area, chucked a flat board on top which I covered with a bin liner and a thin layer of mud, then sticks on top to look natural..
Then it was simply a case of sit back and watch, using modern technology and the trailcam.
To advertise this new abode to the local population, I used a trail of mealworm and hog food from the feeding area.. It was only a few days before we got lucky and caught this action.
Success!!! two hog houses in the garden, both occupied!! I felt good about that fact 😀
We managed to get a few more clips of similar action before they finally went to sleep around Mid December or so.
For Christmas I got a copy of 'My Garden And Other Animals' by Mike Dilger (of The One Show fame).
A great book that describes all they did in their new garden to make it wildlife friendly. Its a couple of years old now, but if you haven't read it, I do recommend it.. A both interesting and enjoyable read.. Laymans terms is always good in my book. Mike explains all that they did over the course of a year, what plants they bought and why, what work they carried out, details of pond built etc. I made plenty of notes and hope to implement them when we are finally 'frost free' and Spring kicks in proper.
We took part in the Big Garden Birdwatch on the last weekend in January. Our results were consistent to last year, which I suppose is a good thing, the only major changes were more chaffinch and goldfinch, after I'd recently added some sunflower heart feeders. On a negative note, sadly no House Sparrows seen in that hour.. That day has inspired me to try and get some Sparrow boxes put up on the house. We have the hedgerow type plants that they like, plenty of food, so hopefully this will help this massively declining species in our area.. the tiniest drop in the ocean, I know.
All the pictures I take of the birds in the garden, never really look very good as they are shot through double glazing, so, one Saturday I put the trailcam out in the daytime, on a tripod, on the coconut feeders that the male Blackcap likes so much.. Blackcaps are one of my favourite garden visitors. Stonking little birds that I don't remember seeing as a kid. The footage came out quite well.
One Saturday morning in February we had two very unwelcome visitors to the garden. I got a video message from Rachael showing a Rat at the top of the garden, around the composter.. Not good!
Action was needed! We didn't want Rats in the garden, but also didn't want to put poison down - nothing that had potential to kill or hurt the hedgehogs or wood mice, so a humane trap was ordered and a week later I was re-homing one of the rats somewhere in the Hampshire countryside. We haven't seen the second one since,, so fingers massively crossed on that one!
Before we caught the rat, we actually caught a hedgehog! I checked the traps each night and morning, and one morning I found one sat in the trap, (unhurt). I released him close to the hedgehog igloo at the top of the garden and it went straight in. A good sign I guess.
I wasn't expecting to see Hedgehogs again until April, so catching this one meant that it was time to get the trailcam out again, and start feeding. We didn't have to wait long before they started putting on a show for us again.
Storm Doris blew through at the end of February and took down most of our side fencing.. This took ages to repair so I didn't put the trailcam out much, (being an end property). One night I tucked it up in the bushes though - to be honest, I still can't really believe the results!!!
A month later the fence was repaired - the trailcam comes out most nights now.
Trying to use it much more as a learning tool this year, I've been changing locations regularly to see what the hedgehogs get up to. They seem to be appearing between 7.00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at the moment. One always goes to the bird bath after eating - the other runs straight towards the garage... Why??
Trailcam deployed and it seems that the pig just likes the shelter an old rabbit hutch provides. Last night we 'caught' him under there for a 40 minute period from 7:40 - 8:20 p.m. apart from leaving in the middle for 10 minutes, it just sat under the hutch, scratching and sniffing.
A few clips from the last two evenings.
Oh I hope so!
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