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I once saw hedgehogs quite frequently in and around my garden but I have not seen one for many year (just the occasional road casualty).
So I was really pleased to see this hedgehog on our front garden last night. It was sitting in the lawn looking towards the house.
My wife took out some cat food and the hedgehog came over a eat some of the cat food before heading off into the over-gown flower border in search of some tasty invertebrates.
Hedgehogs have declined drastically and while the exact reason is unknown intensification of agriculture, roads, pesticides and tidy gardens may all play a part. As with many species declines its often a mixture causes.
Connectivity of habitats is also important, even more so for hedgehogs as they may roam 1-2 km in a single night. Our neighbours have had a hedgehog family in their garden for a while. After 8 weeks the young are left to fend for themselves and this is likely to be one of the young hogs.
If you put food out, hedgehogs tend to visit for a top up and still feed on the natural food - so its not a problem. Avoid fish based catfoods as it can give hedgehogs diarrhoea. You can also add meal worm and other tasty treats as hedgehogs are omnivores. You can also provide a bowl of water as drinking water is often hard to find.
While hedgehogs can swim well, if they fall in a swimming pool or raised pond with no area to climb out, a hedgehog will eventually become exhausted and drown. An untidy overgrown area is also perfect for a hedgehog to visit on its travels.
Driving to visit my mum and we had not gone far when we saw a small hedgehog crossing the road - thankfully the car opposite had stopped to let it crossed.
We pulled over and I we went to check on the hedgehog which was on the verges side. I stood between it and the road to encourage the hedgehog to toddle off into one of the nearby gardens.
It seemed quite happy on the verge. While it was active during the day, it did seem to be healthy and behaving normally. Maybe the recent dry hot weather has made it difficult for the hog to find enough food.
It then started to make its way back towards the road and so I carefully picked it up and it rolled into a ball.
We decided it was best to find somewhere to put it safely - and after knocking on two doors and di not get an answer we got a reply. A gentleman was more than pleased for us to put the hedgehog in his back garden and told us he already had two adult hedgehogs that visited his garden in the evening.
Hopefully the hedgehog will stand a better chance there away from the busy road but still in an area that was familiar - because sadly hedgehogs are on the decline.
Pictures taken by my daughter with her mobile phone
