Hedgehogs

A whole family of hedgehogs used to live under my parent's garden shed.
Hedgehogs would regularly come out in early evenings.... especially during the summer.
One day a whole procession appeared: mama hedgehog and her little ones

Regular garden duties did not seem to upset them at all. They were actually quite curious.

Hedgehogs are both likeable and strange creatures. Years ago when I lived in Essex over several nights I could hear some rustlings through house wall adjoining our integral garage. Took me a few attempts to track it down. I found a hedgehog had decided to make a home in a half-used open bag of cement! Can't have been very healthy. I decided that for the sake of the hedgehog I needed to persuade it to move so I could dispose of the cement. The hedgehog was very reluctant to move, resisting my gentle nudges with a garden broom until, suddenly, the undercarriage came down and the hedgehog shot off with a surprising burst of speed. Happily the hedgehog continued to live in and around our garden.  

I  Love hedgehogs. Used to see them when we lived at our first house. Normally on the way home after a night out near the end of the road. My then girlfriend (now wife) used to get annoyed with me stopping to look at and talk to them with a skinfull of beer inside me

Years ago I used to have hedgehogs all over the place,  snuffle, grunt, crash shuffle during the night, we had nice feeding watches during mid summer late past midnight warm summer nights, hedgehog pooh around the garden,  now we get excited about hedgehog any & all pooh sightings,  its all a bit sad not to have these loveable little creatures as part of our normal countryside.     I am seriously jealous HH   !!!!!!!

My mum had a resident hedgehog that lived under the shed. On hot days when the backdoors open so the cats could come and go, she would often see it in the kitchen eating the cat food. One day it decided that moving in behind the cooker was a good idea.

Not so great when it's mating time as they make a racket.

Seems where I live the number of hedgehogs has trended inversely to the increasing fox population (they really are noisy and appear to have pigeons as their food of choice).

I thought I might see a couple of 'hogs under my sheds as these are raised on bricks which, AFAIK, should present them with an acceptable and protective habitat. Sadly, none sighted so far.  

At the Norfolk pad, one of out neighbours has a hog; it's definitely quite loud and at tick-over it has a distinct and persistent penchant for requesting a potato!

Its the third summer in our detached house with a lovely garden (animal + kids friendly). Glad that the hedgehog has found a partner. Spotted two instead of one last night.

We adore hedgehogs, not only are they cute creatures they are fantastic at garden pest control.. they also make me smile because when they want to they can really move, ... sadly too many loose their lives on the lanes.. I am advised one of the best things you can do for hedgehogs in gardens is to ensure the garden is not all fenced/walled off and they can easily move in and out of gardens... luckily for us and our hedgehogs there is not much fencing at all in our garden with it being quite large and open... of course we also get other wild life in like Roe deer and not quite so appealing country rats!

Simon that's not really fair to rats.  Not so long ago, a female brown rat got into my house (and I still don't know how, they've got into the loft before, but not into the house itself).

I bated a live trap with dried blueberries and got her that night - she was quite cute really.  I released her in the wood behind from where she had probably originated: They nest in the mine adits.

The Hedgehogs that I used to remember from my youth that were common around these parts are long gone, it seems.  I'm still careful to ensure that any bonfires aren't burned in situ, but it has been many years since I revealed any Hedgehogs in hiding.  I suspect the problem is that the Badger population all around us has increased dramatically in the past 30 years.  The surrounding woods are potholed with setts and Badgers are regularly walking around the outside of the house at night, turfing the lawns, digging out grass banks, and generally making quite a mess.  It's hard work trying to keep the dogs from crossing the path of Badgers - three times now I've had to intervene to avoid a nasty fight.  Much as I like Badgers, I'd rather like to have the Hedgehogs back.

We have a good hedgehog population in New Zealand. They first came out with the settlers in 1857. We have had several in our backyard over the years. I have heard that if you see them during the day they are ill. I think try are cute and quite cat proof. Our puss has brought inside  many mice, and horror or horrors one rat, but no hedgehogs as yet!

Our dogs chased what I thought was a pair of cats up our clothes line the other night, turned out to be two possums! Also down under in New Zealand, geez I must be bored...

Kiwi cat posted:

We have a good hedgehog population in New Zealand. They first came out with the settlers in 1857. We have had several in our backyard over the years. I have heard that if you see them during the day they are ill. I think try are cute and quite cat proof. Our puss has brought inside  many mice, and horror or horrors one rat, but no hedgehogs as yet!

I trace the hedgehog by following the cat. When the cat is behaving suspicious, I know that the hedgehog is not far away. They master the garden together nicely. The cat takes care of the mouses (glad she does), and the hedgehog eats the snails.

Last year we had a mole too, but I had to ask someone to take care of it.

We moved from a small country village to the old part of Keynsham just over 40 years ago and it's been sad to see the slow demise of various forms of wildlife. 

We used to have hedgehogs all sorts of birds, Squirrels running up the fences also used to see foxes in the back lane I can't remember the last time I saw a swift or a swallow but you see very little wildlife these days the natural habitats have all but disappeared over the years hedges replaced with fences larger trees adjacent to houses cut down etc etc.

We did have a Yorkshire terrier that used to bring hedgehogs into the  lounge and put them down by mothers feet don't know who was more frightened mother or the hedgehog?

In my town 2 guys are getting very rich. Each side of town one. They sell new 'gardens'. It means that they come, dump an awful of child-labour produced stone in your garden, put a designer tree in, take cash and go. 4 gardens out of 30 in my street this year only.

Government decided that we had to separate our waste in 4 different types. Half of my street now has a stone 'garden' and 4 different wastebins in it. How nice to walk in my street.

I think people should be aware that supporting the environment starts in your very own garden. If the garden is good, certain animals will live there.

We have fed hedgehogs in our garden for the last three years, which has also involved getting someone to come in and do it when we are on holiday, but mid-season last year and again mid-season this year, suddenly the visits stopped and the food gets picked off by the birds the next morning. So their homes are not here unfortunately.

And I do know they have been hedgehogs and not anything else because although they come in the early hours so we rarely see them, the infrared trail cam I sometimes put in the garden has given us photographic proof! Also proof of the urban fox visits and several cats....

best

David

After an absence of two years, this summer we have had three regularly visiting the garden during the night. Two large ones and one smaller one (a female perhaps?). We've lots of video footage, and we set up a feeding box to keep their food dry - worth the trouble as it is currently p***ing down in southern Hampshire. We also think that one of our hedgehog houses is being used - I balance a twig across the entrance overnight, and it has often been moved by morning.