I'll have to try these banana chips! Would you believe it - another 280g hedgehog in my garden tonight. My garden is only about 30ft by 20ft. This one is not from the same litter as the other two by the looks of it as he is a little bigger than them. He is now in his box, sleeping on a towel and ready to go to the rescue centre tomorrow - I felt guilty asking her to take a third one!. I wonder if this year's crazy weather has sent the poor old hedgehogs' mating calender off kilter?
I think that you may be right, or that the first litters may have perished early on so they had another 'first' litter, meaning that the following 'second' litter came along much later than usual.
The big problem with the banana chips is that they're so tasty I dip into the bag as well and they're very calorific! And as they're so sweet I worry about the hoggies' teeth, but I added them to the mix during the autumn to add to the calories to make sure they all fattened up nicely (I'd be really good at hibernating ).
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I was told by an old countryman that badgers are the only predator (except us) of hedgehogs, has anyone else heard this. Apparently the badger unrolls the hog and attacks the soft underparts, Knowing how strong they are in the snout and how their thick fur protects them against bees and wasps I can believe it.
Something has just occurred to me - seeing the hedgehogs gathering the fallen leaves from our trees to make their nests, I remembered how last year, having just moved here and not knowing that we had hedgehogs, as soon as the leaves fell we went out and raked up and bagged all the leaves. The poor hedgehogs must've had to work so hard to find enough.
We're all so tidy in our gardens nowadays - if I'd not been on the sofa with 'flu this past week I'd have raked the leaves up before the hedgehogs had time to make their nests. Maybe this is another reason why their numbers are in decline?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I think you're right that the tidy gardening makes it hard for the hedgehogs Dovefromabove - I had never thought of it before either, but after my hedgehog rescuing efforts this week, I've raked my leaves and left them piled against the fence in case any hedgehogs need them. After a crazy week and 4 trips to the hedgehog rescue centre, I managed to get 6 little hedgehogs, all under 300g, in for over-wintering - probably all from the same litter. The lady there told me that the rescue centres have been asked not to release any hedgehogs into the wild next Spring as their numbers are so low, and so many were lost in the floods this year (an estimated 4 and a half million!), that they are now contemplating starting a structured breeding programme to try and prevent their total extinction. What a sad state of affairs and what a terrible price wildlife pays for us
Don't know - they'd probably love the banana chips that our hedgehogs enjoy - but if you put the hedgehog food under a slab raised on four bricks on their sides that might put it beyond the squirrels' reach.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
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I'll have to try these banana chips!
Would you believe it - another 280g hedgehog in my garden tonight. My garden is only about 30ft by 20ft. This one is not from the same litter as the other two by the looks of it as he is a little bigger than them. He is now in his box, sleeping on a towel and ready to go to the rescue centre tomorrow - I felt guilty asking her to take a third one!. I wonder if this year's crazy weather has sent the poor old hedgehogs' mating calender off kilter?
I think that you may be right, or that the first litters may have perished early on so they had another 'first' litter, meaning that the following 'second' litter came along much later than usual.
The big problem with the banana chips is that they're so tasty I dip into the bag as well and they're very calorific! And as they're so sweet I worry about the hoggies' teeth, but I added them to the mix during the autumn to add to the calories to make sure they all fattened up nicely (I'd be really good at hibernating
).
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I was told by an old countryman that badgers are the only predator (except us) of hedgehogs, has anyone else heard this. Apparently the badger unrolls the hog and attacks the soft underparts, Knowing how strong they are in the snout and how their thick fur protects them against bees and wasps I can believe it.
I knew a corgi x lhasa apso that used to do that - most unpleasant dog (not just because of it's hedgehog habit)
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Something has just occurred to me - seeing the hedgehogs gathering the fallen leaves from our trees to make their nests, I remembered how last year, having just moved here and not knowing that we had hedgehogs, as soon as the leaves fell we went out and raked up and bagged all the leaves. The poor hedgehogs must've had to work so hard to find enough.
We're all so tidy in our gardens nowadays - if I'd not been on the sofa with 'flu this past week I'd have raked the leaves up before the hedgehogs had time to make their nests. Maybe this is another reason why their numbers are in decline?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I think you're right that the tidy gardening makes it hard for the hedgehogs Dovefromabove - I had never thought of it before either, but after my hedgehog rescuing efforts this week, I've raked my leaves and left them piled against the fence in case any hedgehogs need them. After a crazy week and 4 trips to the hedgehog rescue centre, I managed to get 6 little hedgehogs, all under 300g, in for over-wintering - probably all from the same litter. The lady there told me that the rescue centres have been asked not to release any hedgehogs into the wild next Spring as their numbers are so low, and so many were lost in the floods this year (an estimated 4 and a half million!), that they are now contemplating starting a structured breeding programme to try and prevent their total extinction. What a sad state of affairs and what a terrible price wildlife pays for us
would grey squirrals eat food left out for hedgehogs?
I have a few areas in the garden that i have left log piles and leaves, in the hope of providing shelter.
Don't know - they'd probably love the banana chips that our hedgehogs enjoy - but if you put the hedgehog food under a slab raised on four bricks on their sides that might put it beyond the squirrels' reach.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Bless you!
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.