It is a dilemma, and you have to go with what you feel is right for you and the hogs @purplerallim.
Perhaps mine come here early and then go elsewhere for an early breakfast. My neighbour (who has a low walled garden) has up to half a dozen visiting each evening and we often say between us that we will give the hogs a colourful spray mark to work out if they visit both our gardens.
Many thanks for the helpful hints. As my garden has many slugs, toads and beetles, I shall not put out feed for the moment, but start again, with wet food, later in the year...although I like the idea of a feeding box with a flap that might deter rats so might try that in the interim.
I shall keep filming, and hope to see fewer rats and more hedgehogs soon!
Even if you put out dry hog food like me, you will still be getting rid of slugs too @BaW, mine eat both and I have hardly a nibbled plant( at least from slugs or snails) 😁
Neither do I @purplerallim - I have never had any luck with Hostas, but now they are thriving without a single nibble from slugs and snails. They are on the hedgehog path to their food bowl.
Good luck with your quest for less rats and more film star hogs @BaW
MIL was telling me yesterday that on Monday morning, she and FIL watched a hedgehog going backwards and forwards with bits of Spanish bluebells leaves (leaving the bulbs across the lawn ! ). She said it wasn't staggering and was very determined (my teaching has worked !). Hopefully there will be hoglets! They won't disturb it and l've told them to tell my brother in law not to go poking around. OH is a bit miffed as he was planning to do some work in the area, but this is far more important ! They have a camera, so maybe in a few weeks time it will pick up mum and offspring. I'd like to thank the hedgehog for getting rid of some more of those dratted bluebells as well 😁
Bluebells - who would have thought the hogs would be interested in bluebell leaves - bang goes my theory of them using dry leaves and twigs for nesting. It will be interesting to follow their progress @AnniD.
We had 4 hogs at one time last night - the first (or maybe 2nd) time I have seen so many together this year - one was tiny, one fairly small and the other two young adults. Our neighbour is away for a fortnight so perhaps they are coming to us for food instead.
We have 3 at the moment, but l've only caught 2 on camera at any one time. Someone in the area is marking them, and although it obviously makes it easier for me to tell them apart on camera, they have been really heavy handed on the one. He (?) has got markings across the top of his head, his back and his backside, in such a way that it can't be just natural (like walking under a dusty fence for example). @Guernsey Donkey2, l haven't checked the Rescue's Facebook page today but Hope (the little premature orphaned one) was doing as well as can be expected 🤞
Just saw a pair of hogs (think there were only two but hard to be sure given they were foraging in dense undergrowth of hypericum) on a midnight walk in my neighbourhood. Heard them making their characteristic snuffling/snorting noise so followed the sound. Lovely to see. Not a particularly good photo but all I could manage before the phone’s battery died on me.
Just a quick request. Having seen the Countryfile forecast for next week, please could everyone put a dish of water out in the evenings. Not just for Hedgehogs, but for any other wildlife passing through our gardens overnight . Many thanks
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As my garden has many slugs, toads and beetles, I shall not put out feed for the moment, but start again, with wet food, later in the year...although I like the idea of a feeding box with a flap that might deter rats so might try that in the interim.
She said it wasn't staggering and was very determined (my teaching has worked !). Hopefully there will be hoglets!
They won't disturb it and l've told them to tell my brother in law not to go poking around. OH is a bit miffed as he was planning to do some work in the area, but this is far more important ! They have a camera, so maybe in a few weeks time it will pick up mum and offspring.
I'd like to thank the hedgehog for getting rid of some more of those dratted bluebells as well 😁
@Guernsey Donkey2, l haven't checked the Rescue's Facebook page today but Hope (the little premature orphaned one) was doing as well as can be expected 🤞
http://www.hedgehogrepublic.org/
Many thanks