Location, Location, Location

No, we haven't moved home, nor have we moved the hedgehog nest boxes, but we've been moving the cameras to get a different view of things.

In the three weeks since the last blog, things have been going on as normal on the hedgie front. We still have two residents, Alfie in 9b on the patio, and Indy in 9f (left) in the boiler room at the front. Indy no longer seems to be indecisive - she (we still think Indy is a she... for the moment) is quite definitely living in 9f (left) and hasn't been into the right-hand nest for some weeks.

At the moment, with the longest day, it is getting dark about 10 pm. The hedgehogs normally venture as it is getting dark, but they do have a peep out a little earlier to see if it is dark enough. It seems that they start getting peckish and Indy may come out of her nest into the hall a couple of time before finally coming out. A couple of nights ago we decided to sit by the front door waiting for Indy to pop out, and got into position about 9 pm. Only a few minutes later there was a little "tap tap tap" - and another hedgehog appeared round the corner of the garage, its claws tapping on the concrete path. It was there for quite a while - then Indy came out and there was some "huffing" before the visitor moved off. It's quite amazing how the hedgehogs will walk past you within a few inches, as long as you remain still and quiet.

So, back to the new camera positions. We have retained the old ATM camera, looking through the hole in the fence, but we now have ATM2, mounted over the ATM, looking straight down. It shows the wooden steps leading down from the ATM, and shows that quite a lot can happen below the view of ATM1.

In this clip a hedgie comes in through the ATM and tucks into the mealworms, when a cat decides to leave via the ATM. The hedgie prickles slightly, but doesn't seem too bothered as the cat pushes past:



We have two more cameras on the patio, looking along the patio in opposite directions. These, combined with the camera on the steps leading down from the lawn to the patio, combine to show unusual hedgie behaviour. Unusual, but we have seen it before - the hedgehog seems to be looking for something. We think this one is Nightshift, who hasn't been in the nest boxes for many weeks. Starting all three clips together should give an idea of the whole event - she climbs down the steps, has a quick look in 9c, goes up to the doorway of 9b and then back up the steps. The surprising thing is that she seems to be quite determined in her mission - she is moving very quickly, without the usual meandering wander of the hedgehog.





Our other new cameras are in the alley, about 6 feet (2 metres) up the alley to the left of the ATM. This alley provides a thoroughfare for the hedgehogs, and links all of the gardens together. The alley stops half way along our garden at a gate leading to the garden with the decking. As this is not a through route, the alley is very overgrown by bushes, and the concrete path is covered in fallen leaves. It's ideal for the hedgehogs, as only they and the cats use it. We put a single camera at the new location a few weeks ago to try and see where the hedgehogs were going, but we found that a lot of the action was just out of camera shot. So, we came up with the new design - three cameras mounted together, looking left, across and right, giving an almost 180 degree view of the alley. We have had seen quite a lot of meetings, and this is one of the more exciting meetings. Again, starting all three clips together is quite nice.





Some hedgehogs are definitely more aggressive than others - the one here getting attacked seems to be particularly timid. A few nights ago we saw one poor hedgie (probably this one) get attacked five times in about ten minutes in the alley, by other passing hedgehogs. In the end the poor thing gave up trying to get into the garden and went back up the alley.

On another occasion we saw it waiting patiently outside the ATM for the hedgie on the ATM to move. Finally, after five minutes it gave up and went under the decking and came into the garden through that entrance.

We have had very little activity under the decking for the last few weeks. The same thing happened last year. We wonder if the other entrance to the decking has become blocked by growing plants.

We had another surprise early visitor -still in broad daylight. Unfortunately, not the sharpest of pictures as it is quite dark round the ATM and the shutter speed was quite slow, but quite a nice shot:

Moving to our feathered friends, most of the starlings are now self-sufficient. We heard a single chick calling for food yesterday, but that was the first for several days. This is good news, as the noise level has diminished, although it is replaced by the noise of them squabbling. We suspect we aren't too popular with the neighbours. The starlings seem to be using the garden as a nursery, with lots of youngsters and only one or two adults. We did count over sixty birds at one stage! Their aerobatics and formation flying are getting very well developed. Although we have lots of starlings we get the feeling that there are several flocks each visiting at different times, since there is one very distinctive bird, "Chalky", who has a completely white tail feather. We only see this bird at one time of the day.

There are quite a few blackbirds around, and we get a lovely song from one each evening as he perches on a nearby tree or on the neighbour's TV aerial. The blackbirds are very active at the front, too. We have a hanging feeder by the front door, which was attracting robins (sadly, they visit very rarely now) and has been attracting lots of bluetits recently. Possibly as a result of spilled food, the blackbirds started visiting. We saw them on the camera we placed to watch Indy, so we started putting out "Buggy Nibbles" (suet pellets with insects) for the blackbirds, and they have proved to be a real hits. We have seen three blackbirds queuing up on the lawn to feed. They will even take food while we are standing at the front door. They caught us unawares yesterday and had cleared the food early in the morning, and we were surprised to see a blackbird on the bluetit feeder!

Finally, a real treat - a woodpecker on the fat balls. Unfortunately, most of the time it was on the far side, but we did get one reasonable photo:

Hedgehog Awareness Week

I must admit we missed the fact that 2nd  to 8th May 2010 is Hedgehog Awareness Week until we saw this cute little hedgehog article on the Daily Mail website, drawing attention to the matter. We had seen it mentioned on some of the hedgehog forums a while ago, but unfortunately it had slipped our minds, and doesn't seem to have been widely publicised anywhere else. So we're doing our little bit to pass on the message about our favourite mammals.

As usual, the visitors to our garden have been keeping us entertained and fascinated with their behaviour. At the moment, we appear to have five regular residents: an unnamed hedgehog in 9a, Alfie in 9b, Nightshift in 9c, Indy in 9f (left) and Indy's Friend in 9f (right). We don't seem to have had anyone in 9d for three or four nights.

We are getting lots of visits throughout the night, although it's impossible to tell how many different hedgehogs are visiting, or if it is just one or two visiting several times each night. They are certainly very hungry at the moment - the mealworms in the feeding station on the lawn (9e) have been going well, so last night I put two full bowls of mealworms in. It seemed there was a hedgehog in almost continuously all evening. This must have been a number of different hedgies, since if it was a single individual it would have exploded, as both bowls had been cleaned out this morning. And that is in addition to the bowl outside 9d being emptied, three other bowls and a large pile on the ATM all going.

I was up early this morning - I've been getting up at 5:30 to visit a customer for the last couple of months, and my body clock hasn't reset for the holiday - so I went downstairs to see if there was any activity. It was daylight already, so I wasn't expecting any activity, but then I suddenly saw a hedgie munching away in front of the tunnel in 9a. I assumed the chap had just popped out of 9a for a snack, but going back through the cameras showed that 9a had been tucked up in bed for 45 minutes, and this chap had just come in under the decking, had breakfast (or is it supper to a hedgehog) and gone out the same way. so, it seems the feeder is on its GPS list of favourites.

Last Thursday, 29th April, was rather a nasty night. It was cold and breezy and damp, and it was dark comparatively early. Nightshift was up and out as soon as it was dark, as usual. Unfortunately, it started raining about 9 pm, and we have seen in the past that Nightshift doesn't seem to like the rain. I was amazed to see her behave like this though:



The first part shows her climbing down the steps onto the patio and dashing across the patio - it's surprising just how long a hedgehog's legs really are, and how quickly they can move when they want to. The next, rather blown, clip shows her dashing past 9c - she seems to have slightly lost her bearings - but no worries, she soon gets back on course and climbs back into her nest in 9c. The next clip is the same action from a different camera. Finally, she goes into bed. She stayed here for about 30 minutes before venturing out again. It was still drizzling, so she had a quick snack at 9d and went back to bed.

Meanwhile, at the front, Indy had been out a couple of times for a snack just after dark:





When he came out of the nest again about 9 pm, it had started raining, and after much sniffing the air, he turned round and went back to bed. He did this a couple of times. Then, a little later, when the weather was a little better, he actually came out under the door - but decided it still wasn't right and went back to bed again.

We have seen Indy still sneaking into 9f (right) for a few minutes on most nights, although he is living in 9f (left).

Finally, we must not forget our feathered friends. We have been feeding the birds in the back garden for a couple of years now, but had never bothered at the front, until we noticed that robins and blackbirds were stealing the mealworms we'd put by the boiler room door for the hedgehogs. We have also hung a feeder up by the front door, with sunflower kernels, mealworms and "buggy nibbles" (suet pellets with insects). This attracts blue tits and robins.

After the camera got knocked over by one of the local cats, it was repositioned to give a view of the seedling tray we forgot to put away, but turned out to be a second drinking water supply for the hedgehogs - and a bath for the local robins:



We also put a bird box with camera in the lilac tree to the right of the boiler room door, and the robins have started building a nest there.They haven't been for the last couple of days, so we don't know if they have abandoned it, or if they are busy elsewhere. We hope they return.

A change from the hedgehogs

We love the hedgehogs, but we also feed the birds - it was probably the bird food which attracted the hedgehogs. We have a number of regulars, and they have lots of entertaining behaviour. Although we had a few heavy showers today, we had some sunny intervals, and this young blackbird took full advantage of the weather to do a spot of sunbathing on the lawn...



...as did this rather bedraggled looking dunnock. They do like to fluff their feathers up.



This young Pied Wagtail started visiting a few days ago, although we've had an adult here most of the summer.



The family two doors away had a family of blue tits raised in their nestbox and we have started to get a few visits, usually when no other birds are about



The starlings tend to monopolise the garden when they are around. This young chap is just getting his spotted waistcoat. He seems to be a late baby as most of the other starlings are much more advanced in their plumage. Things have quietened down on the starling front - we just get a flock of about 20 around 6:30 am. This is much quieter than when we had over 20 hungry babies arriving with parents at just after 4 am. It seems many people don't like starlings because of their aggressive behaviour, but we find them great fun to watch, particularly when they all drop in together.