"The Hedgehog Herald"

[Tetters]

The three lots of food I put out, were all eaten. There was a lot of activity on the patio during the evening as the security light caught them several times.
The third house is still not occupied, but has attracted a lot of interest. I think there's still a lot of, "coming and going" through the doorway in the side fence. So I've re-positioned the camera to cover the actual doorway as well as the new house. I had to relocate a hebe, which would have obscured the line of sight. Nothing's ever easy is it?

View attachment 1636

.....but you need the extra jobs to think about, it keeps you (hopefully) out of mischief.

 

[Anniekay]

@Sean Regan does it scare them when the security lights come on ?

 

[Sean Regan]

@Sean Regan does it scare them when the security lights come on ?

No, they take absolutely no notice of it.

The cameras also pick up the sound of passing planes, as we are not far from Manchester Airport. These don't affect them either.

 

[Sean Regan]

First photo from the camera in its new position.

Mr Fox's nose! At 7.28pm
I think he was just being "nosey" he doesn't appear on any camera again last night.





First hedgehog photo at 7.50 pm coming in from the garden next door.




Now it might be a visitor or one of the "tenants" who'd been out before 7.00pm when the camera was set to start recording.

Another visitor at 8.55pm.




I'm going to set the camera to start recording earlier and put this one back covering the house at the bottom of the garden.

All three bowls of food were eaten.

 

[Sean Regan]

No sign of hibernation yet. Still a lot of activity.

The occupant of the house at the bottom of the garden came out for breakfast around 7.00pm, then went back inside for a couple of hours.

A different hedgehog arrived at a quarter to eleven and helped itself to some food.
It was watched from the doorway by the first hedgehog, but there was no interaction.

The hedgehog in the house by the patio was doing a lot of "housekeeping."

It was scraping out dead leaves that get blown into the entrance when I'm vaccing the patio.

The new house is still empty, though has had several viewings and at least one has been inside to form a nest. Of course, the one looking for a home a week ago has probably found somewhere in a different garden.

 

[Sean Regan]

We've only one hedgehog in residence. It's in the house under the azaleas to the side of the patio. It's of regular habits, still.

First appearance last night around 9.30 pm.

Then it was in and out for most of the night, sometimes with an hour between appearances, until it went to bed at 5.30 am.

The other two houses are still unoccupied.

But we're getting at least one visitor.


In through the doorway in the fence around 2.00am.

Then out again at 5.00am,

(you can just see its back leg going through the doorway)

The three lots of food I leave out, all got eaten.

 

[Sean Regan]

The hedgehog made its first appearance 14 minutes later than the previous evening.

In and out several times again during the night and early morning.

Passed by the doorway in the fence once, but didn't go out of the garden, nor did any others come in.

Maybe others have already started to hibernate. Not all the food left out was eaten.

 

[Tetters]

Crikey, I managed somehow to miss a couple of posts on this thread. It's a bit disappointing that only one house is currently occupied. I thought that two of them had definitely been taken, and the third one was an immediate necessity. Do you know how hedgehog friendly your neighbours are @Sean Regan ? I suppose it's best to remember the expression ''build it, and they will come''
It is magic to be able to watch the clips on the night time watch from my armchair. Thank you for your efforts.

 

[Sean Regan]

A check on the cameras this morning revealed no activity at all last night and the food remained untouched.
I'll continue to put some out for a few days.
There's been an awful lot of work being done on the inside of the adjoining semi and half the garden has been paved. The back half still has all the branches of the huge tree that was cut down, but the main trunk has still to come down. All this has still to be cleared. Whether this will have any effect on other hedgehogs I don't know.

 

[Anniekay]

A check on the cameras this morning revealed no activity at all last night and the food remained untouched.
I'll continue to put some out for a few days.
There's been an awful lot of work being done on the inside of the adjoining semi and half the garden has been paved. The back half still has all the branches of the huge tree that was cut down, but the main trunk has still to come down. All this has still to be cleared. Whether this will have any effect on other hedgehogs I don't know.

Isn't it breeding season in Sept/Oct for hedgehogs? Perhaps they were all snugged up over at the "partner's" place for the night ?

 

[Tetters]

Isn't it breeding season in Sept/Oct for hedgehogs? Perhaps they were all snugged up over at the "partner's" place for the night ?

No. Although our hogs are often still reproducing until late summer, they are usually all done for the year by September. Their main breeding season here is the springtime, starting around April until June.
During October they are beginning to hibernate for the winter, usually depending on the temperatures. Tomorrow we'll be in November already

A check on the cameras this morning revealed no activity at all last night and the food remained untouched.
I'll continue to put some out for a few days.
There's been an awful lot of work being done on the inside of the adjoining semi and half the garden has been paved. The back half still has all the branches of the huge tree that was cut down, but the main trunk has still to come down. All this has still to be cleared. Whether this will have any effect on other hedgehogs I don't know.

Is the little door on that side of the garden? Have you got neighbours on the other side too?
As for the continuing work on the first side - if that's the garden they're going back to, you cannot really know what might have upset them there. It could well have caused them to become very unsettled, but if that was the case, surely they would have wanted to remain on your side of the fence

 

[Sean Regan]

No. Although our hogs are often still reproducing until late summer, they are usually all done for the year by September. Their main breeding season here is the springtime, starting around April until June.
During October they are beginning to hibernate for the winter, usually depending on the temperatures. Tomorrow we'll be in November already


Is the little door on that side of the garden? Have you got neighbours on the other side too?
As for the continuing work on the first side - if that's the garden they're going back to, you cannot really know what might have upset them there. It could well have caused them to become very unsettled, but if that was the case, surely they would have wanted to remain on your side of the fence

The problem is, we don't know from where they come. The only way they can get in or out of our garden is through the little doorway in the fence.
The ones that visit may not even live next door, as they can come in to that garden from anywhere in our road.

 

[Tetters]

The problem is, we don't know from where they come. The only way they can get in or out of our garden is through the little doorway in the fence.
The ones that visit may not even live next door, as they can come in to that garden from anywhere in our road.

We've seen no end of them being killed on the roads, which is both sad, and often unnecessary. At least the ones you care for should be well enough fed for the hibernation.