Monday 28 February 2011

The First Hedgehog of 2011

We had a wonderful surprise on Saturday night - our first hedgehog visitor of 2011. We always have the hedgiecams on, with the display on a spare monitor, and I just glanced at the monitor at twenty to midnight - a hedgehog munching away in 9e. What a relief that we had put some nice fresh mealies in that afternoon.

He was one of the last two hedgehogs to be visiting in the Autumn, although we never gave him a name.

He had a good much in 9e, then went down to the water for a drink, another quick snack in 9e and back out of the ATM. He returned a little later and followed the same procedure.

When we checked the captures in the morning we found he made quite a few visits - six in all:








We were shocked to find the mealie bowl in 9e was completely empty this morning. That was one hungry little hedgehog! We will have to see if he just woke up, came for a snack and has gone back into hibernation, or if he has woken up properly. It is very early compared to the first hedgehog for the last two years, but then this Winter was quite different from last year.

We will see...

In the meantime, we need to get ourselves busy with some maintenance of the cameras - they all need a good clean, we need a new hard disk in a couple of the recorders, and we want to reposition some of the cameras.

We also have a couple of cameras on the bird box at the front - we have a couple of blue tits showing interest in the bird box, visiting every day and going inside, but they aren't building a nest yet. Of course, they have chosen the box without the camera inside - the camera boxes are totally ignored!

Let's hope this is a wonderful year for the hedgehogs and the birds, and all the other wildlife.

4 comments:

  1. They do seem to be waking early this year. I have had one visiting for a week now. It was only 3C when it first appeared. As with yours, the mealworms are disappearing fast.

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  2. Hi John, we felt sure that your visitors would come back this Spring and we are delighted to know one has already emerged for a snack. Your one seems to be up and about quite a bit, coming back over a few days to eat. Our vistor has only appeared once - that night. But perhaps it will come again tonight....

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  3. Gosh, that is early. I wonder if it's too early for me to try attracting some hedgehogs to this garden here in Pembrokeshire. I've only ever seen a hedgehog on a single occasion here.

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  4. Hi GL, it is definitely worth a try.

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