Tiny Tina: "Now we are three"

Having confirmed that there are actually two baby hedgehogs visiting the garden a couple of nights ago, I can now confirm I was wrong - there are three, I think. Three baby hedgehogs on three different cameras at the same time. There may be more - just after the time I saw the three, another one popped up, and I don't think any of the three had had time to reach that camera.

We had another surprise last night - the first hedgehog we saw was at 8:00pm - getting out of bed in 9a. It had stayed the whole day, and we hadn't noticed. This is the problem when they burrow under the straw and hide themselves completely. Nightshift was very restless and would wake up several times during the day, and go into the tunnel and look out, so it was quite easy to spot her, although quite often she wouldn't be completely buried. Yesterday, there were only a couple of triggers during the day, so we put it down to a visiting insect.

Tina was quite active last night - nipping out for ten minutes for something to eat, then back into 9a for another sleep. I think she is back in now, as there was a trigger in 9a bedroom at 7:40. It looks as if she was getting cold as well - there was straw in the hall when I went to bed last night, but it's all been pulled into the bedroom now. It went down to 9.8 degrees C in the garden overnight, which is the coldest night so far.

A large hedgehog visited at the entrance to the tunnel while Tina was there, and there seemed to be quite a lot of sniffing going on, then the big one moved on. From the size it looked like Nightshift, but it has different markings on its back.

Nightshift was around, but kept a low profile... She was on the patio, but we don't have a camera covering the "crime scene", so we don't know if she went back for another snack.

We haven't seen THATF (The Hedgehog At The Front) again, but we have seen the evidence. A poo on the path two nights ago, although not many mealworms eaten. An empty, tipped up plate and another poo the night before last. Tipped up plates normally mean not enough food, as the hedgie is looking for more. An almost empty plate and another poo this morning.

It's difficult to monitor the path without sitting with the front door open, which is chilly, may frighten off the hedgehog and make the neighbours question your sanity, so we got another small camera. As the main recorders are full, I got a very cheap 4-channel USB recorder from eBay. So we now have a camera hanging out of the letter box with a cable running down the hall to the PC. Considering the low price (£14!) the recorder seems to work rather well, at least enough to tell us if THATF was around. The main limitation seems to be with the bundled software - the motion detection is very basic and it does not seem to have timed recording.

So, will we be showing some cute videos of THATF today? Unfortunately no, due to a technical hitch with the recording - I forgot to press the record button. Better luck tonight.