When we cleaned out the nest boxes a few weeks ago, we put newspaper on the floor, and then quite a lot of straw, along with a fleece blanket. We don't take too much time putting the straw in, as we know the hedgehogs will rearrange it all to their own liking. A few nights ago we saw that the hedgehogs in 9a had moved all the straw in the tunnel and hall into the bedroom, so we put more straw outside. Sure enough, they took some of the straw in.
We saw they were all rearranging the nests, so we put some more straw in each tunnel. 9d tunnel was full, but the little chap in 9d had moved some of it inside. By the time of this video, the tunnel was half empty, and the hedgehog can be seen both pulling the straw in, and carrying some inside in its mouth.
This afternoon the weather changed - it got decidedly windy and was threatening a storm. The hedgehogs in the three occupied nests - 9a, 9c and 9d - all started rearranging the nests. We added some extra straw into all the tunnels, so they could add it as they wanted.
We have decided to call the baby hedgehog with the A on its back "Alfie". It (we still don't know if it's a boy or a girl) still seems very small compared to the others, but it is full of life. At the moment it is spending the day in 9a, but it then gets up and explores and feeds, and has taken to having a couple of hours sleep in 9b. It had a struggle to get in tonight, with all the extra straw we'd put in, but it made it.
We found this lovely capture from 9e, the feeding station. Another hedgie is feeding when in comes Alfie and wants his share of the mealies- so he moves the bowl and climbs in.
9d seems to be settling into a routine - first up, just as it gets dark. A quick sip of water and a nibble of mealies, before heading out through the ATM. Two hours later he's back, straight into bed in 9d for two hours sleep, then up and about.
He mistimed things this morning. He was on the mealie bowl outside 9c when Nightshift got up, and pushed him off the bowl. The poor little chap kept trying to get in, but Nightshift stopped him. In the end he wandered off and came back later.
Nightshift acquired two more distinct marks last night, as can be seen in the video above. They are dark, which is very unusual - they normally acquire light-coloured marks. We don't know what it is, but we think it is something stuck to her.
We always have plenty of water about. There are two small bowls on the patio, and one on the lawn. There are also three large ones on the wall, which serve as bird baths during the day. The one closest the camera is quite a step up. Nightshift has no problems, but the night before last we saw one of the babies trying to reach the water and giving up, so we put an upturned seed tray in front. Here one of the little chaps tests it out.
The water bowl on the lawn is a hedgehog bowl like the ones in front of 9c/9d. We top it up to overflowing every evening and every morning it is almost dry. We must set up a camera to monitor it, to see what is drinking all the water. We can't believe the hedgehogs drink it all - it must be cats.
I went out early this morning, before the starlings came, to check the status of all the bowls, and they were all very low. The hedgehogs are getting very hungry. I suppose they are growing, but I fear it also means that natural food is in short supply. It has been very dry lately, so maybe the insect population is low. I suppose the number of hedgehogs may also have something to do with it. There were five hedgehogs in the garden at the same time tonight, and Nightshift was elsewhere at the time.
She has taken to spending three or four hours at the front, munching then snoozing in the boiler room, then doing the same again. Then she goes home to 9c around 4:30 to 5:00.
They all seem healthy, although we thought we saw a tick on the face of one of them tonight. Lets hope they continue to thrive.
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Monday, 14 September 2009
Hot-bunking Hedgehogs
It looks as though we are suffering from a shortage of hedgehog accommodation in the area - watching the Tunnelcam this evening we saw two hedgies hot-bunking - one came out of the tunnel and had just started on his mealworms when up came another hedgehog, straight into the tunnel:
The chappie who comes out could be the one with the A on his rear - we're not quite sure who he is any more, but we think he's been napping in 9b, and possibly is Nightshift's second in 9c.
Ten minutes later another hedgie went into the tunnel - not sure if it was the one who had just come out or another one. This is definitely "A".
A little later "A" comes out again, has a snack, thinks about going for another nap, changes his mind and goes out under the decking.
And finally, the other chap comes out.
They certainly get around quite a lot, but we don't think they can be ranging so far. The little hedgie living in 9d is always first up at night, and he zips out of the garden, but he's back in bed a couple of hours later, for a couple of hours snooze. At least it seems that they are finding food elsewhere and not just living solely on a diet of mealworms.
They all seem to have their own little itineraries. These two went out under the decking. Others use the ATM. Some go to the patio, others don't. At the same time, they do have a little variation. Nightshift sometimes uses the ramp, sometimes the steps to get to the patio - but it shows she knows her way around.
The chappie who comes out could be the one with the A on his rear - we're not quite sure who he is any more, but we think he's been napping in 9b, and possibly is Nightshift's second in 9c.
Ten minutes later another hedgie went into the tunnel - not sure if it was the one who had just come out or another one. This is definitely "A".
A little later "A" comes out again, has a snack, thinks about going for another nap, changes his mind and goes out under the decking.
And finally, the other chap comes out.
They certainly get around quite a lot, but we don't think they can be ranging so far. The little hedgie living in 9d is always first up at night, and he zips out of the garden, but he's back in bed a couple of hours later, for a couple of hours snooze. At least it seems that they are finding food elsewhere and not just living solely on a diet of mealworms.
They all seem to have their own little itineraries. These two went out under the decking. Others use the ATM. Some go to the patio, others don't. At the same time, they do have a little variation. Nightshift sometimes uses the ramp, sometimes the steps to get to the patio - but it shows she knows her way around.
Sunday, 13 September 2009
News from the Front
The last few mornings we have found evidence of quite a lot of hedgehog activity at the front of the house, in the form of empty mealworm saucers and large hedgehog poos, so we decided to reinstate the "front cam" to see what was going on. We moved the camera so that it looked towards the door to the boiler room. There has been evidence of hedgehogs in the boiler room each morning, although we aren't sure if any have stayed during the day.
We were rather surprised at the activity. The main culprit was Nightshift. She had a good snack of mealworms - then went into the boiler room for a nap. Then up for a snack, and back for a nap. She did this four or five times during the night, although she did leave the area once or twice.
Later in the night, a second hedgie arrived, just as Nightshift was tucking in... so Nightshift bulldozed it away. It hung around for a while, and when Nightshift went into the boiler room again, it had a very light snack - Nightshift had already cleared the saucer for the second time (we had to refill it about 9pm).
The newcomer then went into the boiler room as well. We expected one hedgehog to vacate the area very quickly, but they were in together for a while, then they left separately. Unfortunately, I haven't sorted the video editing yet, so no clip for this yet.
We also got a nice clip from the "Tunnel Cam", the other new camera, which looks up the tunnel of 9a. Unfortunately, the camera was aimed a bit low and the reflections from the vegetation affected the exposure, but it's quite a nice shot of the hedgie coming down the tunnel. What we didn't realise until the fourth viewing is that it's joined by a second hedgie.
Both this and the Front camera are on my "Ebay Special" USB capture unit, which can only record a single channel at once, so we manually select the channel, but at least we can see several cameras at once. I left it recording the front when I went to bed, so I've a 2GB capture file to check through.
We had three nest boxes occupied during the day today - 9a with one definite. There may still be another as there have been some triggers, but it seems a little late now.
Nightshift was in 9c, although we aren't sure what happened to her little one - we haven't seen it tonight.
The little hedgie in 9d was very restless during the day and was out as soon at it got dark. It likes to go out for an hour or two then comes back to 9d for a nap.
Little baby was in 9b for a couple of hours during the night, but left. We still think this is the one who stays with Nightshift. but we just get more and more confused. Perhaps she's moved out as well?
Hedgehogs are great climbers. Normally they shuffle along, quite often with no visible means of support, but you can see their feet as they climb in and out of the ATM. The normal route the hedgies use from the lawn to the patio is the ramp at the left. When the babies arrived they found the tops of the steps, but couldn't get down, so we added a few extra bricks and a wooden ramp to make things easier for the little ones. As you can see, they can go up rather well now:
Nightshift is quite capable of using the steps in their original form - they are two courses of housebricks high.
We were rather surprised at the activity. The main culprit was Nightshift. She had a good snack of mealworms - then went into the boiler room for a nap. Then up for a snack, and back for a nap. She did this four or five times during the night, although she did leave the area once or twice.
Later in the night, a second hedgie arrived, just as Nightshift was tucking in... so Nightshift bulldozed it away. It hung around for a while, and when Nightshift went into the boiler room again, it had a very light snack - Nightshift had already cleared the saucer for the second time (we had to refill it about 9pm).
The newcomer then went into the boiler room as well. We expected one hedgehog to vacate the area very quickly, but they were in together for a while, then they left separately. Unfortunately, I haven't sorted the video editing yet, so no clip for this yet.
We also got a nice clip from the "Tunnel Cam", the other new camera, which looks up the tunnel of 9a. Unfortunately, the camera was aimed a bit low and the reflections from the vegetation affected the exposure, but it's quite a nice shot of the hedgie coming down the tunnel. What we didn't realise until the fourth viewing is that it's joined by a second hedgie.
Both this and the Front camera are on my "Ebay Special" USB capture unit, which can only record a single channel at once, so we manually select the channel, but at least we can see several cameras at once. I left it recording the front when I went to bed, so I've a 2GB capture file to check through.
We had three nest boxes occupied during the day today - 9a with one definite. There may still be another as there have been some triggers, but it seems a little late now.
Nightshift was in 9c, although we aren't sure what happened to her little one - we haven't seen it tonight.
The little hedgie in 9d was very restless during the day and was out as soon at it got dark. It likes to go out for an hour or two then comes back to 9d for a nap.
Little baby was in 9b for a couple of hours during the night, but left. We still think this is the one who stays with Nightshift. but we just get more and more confused. Perhaps she's moved out as well?
Hedgehogs are great climbers. Normally they shuffle along, quite often with no visible means of support, but you can see their feet as they climb in and out of the ATM. The normal route the hedgies use from the lawn to the patio is the ramp at the left. When the babies arrived they found the tops of the steps, but couldn't get down, so we added a few extra bricks and a wooden ramp to make things easier for the little ones. As you can see, they can go up rather well now:
Nightshift is quite capable of using the steps in their original form - they are two courses of housebricks high.
No more Tinas
Don't worry - not a mass disappearance of all the baby hedgehogs. Quite the reverse, in fact. It just dawned on me that we are no longer referring to the baby hedgehog as Tina. I suppose when we confirmed there were at least four Tinas we gave up. We have no idea how many Tinas there are now.
There is a Tina in 9d. It seems to have moved in as it has been staying for several days now. although it goes out of the garden several times each night. It has a lot of marks on its back.
Nightshift's older Tina is still living with her (we think) although Nightshift seems to be a very liberal mother, letting it go out on its own each night - and letting it have a lie-in at getting up time. It has got a distinctive marking on its rear end, which looks very much like a capital A. It started off as \, became ^ and now looks like the full A. None of the others have recognisable letters on them, so we think it's just an accident.
It actually spent a couple of hours in 9b, giving it a full inspection, but it still went "home" to 9c.
We're not sure about Nightshift's baby Tina, aka Saffy. We think we've seen her several times, since her poorly foot looks larger than usual, but we can't be certain.
There are two Tinas using 9a. One stays all day, the other pops in during the night... except that all-day Tina popped out at lunchtime today. I just glanced the camera under the decking whilst having my lunch, and saw a hedgie. It seems she just got up, and went out. When under the decking she looked as if she was going back in, but changed her mind. She turned up and went into 9a again just after dark.
There is at least one Tina who just uses the garden as a link between the alley and the decking - we think.
Recognition is getting more and more difficult, as they seem to be getting more and more marks on their backs. Even Nightshift had a new identity when she got up tonight. We assume they get the marks trying to squeeze under fences and the like, but we wonder if it could indicate the pending arrival of some late autumn babies in Nightshift's case.
We reinstated the camera at the front to see what was happening, since the mealies seem to be getting a real munching. We repositioned it to view the door to the boiler room, as we seem to be getting a visitor, but can't tell if anybody is in or not. We've seen Nightshift has visited the front three times so far tonight, and each time she went into the boiler room for five or ten minutes. Too short for a nap?
We set up another camera - the 9a Tunnelcam - looking up the tunnel into 9a. There are too many leaves in the frame, which are affecting the automatic exposure, so we need to fix it tomorrow. It's connected to the "ebay special" USB video capture stick. It was very cheap and gives reasonable quality captures, but it has a major limitation. Although it can connect to four cameras, and display pictures from all four at once, in record mode it will only record a single channel, and that stops it displaying the other three cameras. Still, it's useful for monitoring four lesser-used cameras and we can just manually record anything interesting. As it cost less than 1/20 the price of our main recorders, it's a useful addition.
There is a Tina in 9d. It seems to have moved in as it has been staying for several days now. although it goes out of the garden several times each night. It has a lot of marks on its back.
Nightshift's older Tina is still living with her (we think) although Nightshift seems to be a very liberal mother, letting it go out on its own each night - and letting it have a lie-in at getting up time. It has got a distinctive marking on its rear end, which looks very much like a capital A. It started off as \, became ^ and now looks like the full A. None of the others have recognisable letters on them, so we think it's just an accident.
It actually spent a couple of hours in 9b, giving it a full inspection, but it still went "home" to 9c.
We're not sure about Nightshift's baby Tina, aka Saffy. We think we've seen her several times, since her poorly foot looks larger than usual, but we can't be certain.
There are two Tinas using 9a. One stays all day, the other pops in during the night... except that all-day Tina popped out at lunchtime today. I just glanced the camera under the decking whilst having my lunch, and saw a hedgie. It seems she just got up, and went out. When under the decking she looked as if she was going back in, but changed her mind. She turned up and went into 9a again just after dark.
There is at least one Tina who just uses the garden as a link between the alley and the decking - we think.
Recognition is getting more and more difficult, as they seem to be getting more and more marks on their backs. Even Nightshift had a new identity when she got up tonight. We assume they get the marks trying to squeeze under fences and the like, but we wonder if it could indicate the pending arrival of some late autumn babies in Nightshift's case.
We reinstated the camera at the front to see what was happening, since the mealies seem to be getting a real munching. We repositioned it to view the door to the boiler room, as we seem to be getting a visitor, but can't tell if anybody is in or not. We've seen Nightshift has visited the front three times so far tonight, and each time she went into the boiler room for five or ten minutes. Too short for a nap?
We set up another camera - the 9a Tunnelcam - looking up the tunnel into 9a. There are too many leaves in the frame, which are affecting the automatic exposure, so we need to fix it tomorrow. It's connected to the "ebay special" USB video capture stick. It was very cheap and gives reasonable quality captures, but it has a major limitation. Although it can connect to four cameras, and display pictures from all four at once, in record mode it will only record a single channel, and that stops it displaying the other three cameras. Still, it's useful for monitoring four lesser-used cameras and we can just manually record anything interesting. As it cost less than 1/20 the price of our main recorders, it's a useful addition.
Friday, 11 September 2009
Brrrrr...
The summer is ending and the nights are getting colder, and the hedgehogs are feeling it. We again had three nest boxes occupied last night. 9a had a a small baby in all day yesterday and it was in there today as well. It also had several visitors during the night.
Nightshift and her larger baby were in all day yesterday and all day today, although they were out (separately) most of last night. We don't know what has happened to Nightshift's smaller one, Saffy with the poorly foot. We are getting quite worried that she's on her own, but she seemed well able to look after herself. It may even be her in 9a - every time we see a baby on the cameras we try and look at the front right foot.
A large hoglet was in 9d yesterday and today, and it came back several times last night for a nap (or a warm?)
We had put some straw in 9a when we cleaned it out, but after seeing the babies moving all the straw from the hall into the bedroom, we added a fleece and a lot more straw. The extra straw in the hall was also moved into the bedroom. Yesterday morning we saw a hedgie collecting up some of the loose straw we'd dropped and carrying it into the nest in its mouth:
so we put a couple of handfuls of straw into the tunnel and left a large pile of straw by the entrance to the tunnel. It seems this was much appreciated.
The hedgie continued for quite a while after this clip, adding more straw. Surprisingly, it then wandered off out of the garden, and spent the day elsewhere, but there is a small hedgehog in 9a. Could it be that it was looking after its sibling? It seems strange to put in all that effort and then go away.
Here's a clip of Nightshift under the decking in January, after she'd woken up from hibernation, collecting nest material:
Back to last night, it was the coldest night so far last night, and the hoglet in 9d was also pulling in the straw, so we put more in the tunnel for it as well. We've been round today and put more straw in the tunnels, and added more to 9b, which is still empty.
There were lots of babies in and out of the garden during the night, but we only saw one large adult besides Nightshift, and that was tucking in to the mealworms in 9e, the plastic box feeder. We saw it leaving about 6:15 this morning, just as it was getting light.
We are still getting the visitors at the front - there may be one in the boiler room at the moment. Unfortunately, we've discontinued the camera temporarily. The video capture stick collects .avi files, which I've been processing using Windows Movie Maker - we've never had a video camera, so we've never done any video editing, so we never had any software. I found Movie Maker is free, and it serves for what we need, which is just to cut out the hedgie clips. Unfortunately, after three days use it now tries to save to CD instead of disk, whatever I tell it to do. Seems to be a common problem, so it's on hold until I fix it or sort out an alternative, otherwise we'd get totally snowed under with videos. The other cameras are on hard disk recorders, and just overwrite the old video.
We had a lovely little visitor to 9e.
This seems to be Nightshift's larger one... must think up a name for it, as it's so much easier to use a name. It is certainly enjoying paddling in mealies. We've given up on the idea of a mixed diet. A few nights ago we put some chopped peanuts and sunflower kernels into 9e. A total disaster. Not a single hedgie visited 9e that night! Not only that, we had 88 motion detect captures of mice. There are a few mice around the garden - not really surprising as we are in a village in the country - but we'd never seen a mouse in 9e. The following night was mealies only, so the hedgies were back, with a few mice visits. Fortunately, no more mice since then.
Wonder if we'll see little Saffy tonight...
Nightshift and her larger baby were in all day yesterday and all day today, although they were out (separately) most of last night. We don't know what has happened to Nightshift's smaller one, Saffy with the poorly foot. We are getting quite worried that she's on her own, but she seemed well able to look after herself. It may even be her in 9a - every time we see a baby on the cameras we try and look at the front right foot.
A large hoglet was in 9d yesterday and today, and it came back several times last night for a nap (or a warm?)
We had put some straw in 9a when we cleaned it out, but after seeing the babies moving all the straw from the hall into the bedroom, we added a fleece and a lot more straw. The extra straw in the hall was also moved into the bedroom. Yesterday morning we saw a hedgie collecting up some of the loose straw we'd dropped and carrying it into the nest in its mouth:
so we put a couple of handfuls of straw into the tunnel and left a large pile of straw by the entrance to the tunnel. It seems this was much appreciated.
The hedgie continued for quite a while after this clip, adding more straw. Surprisingly, it then wandered off out of the garden, and spent the day elsewhere, but there is a small hedgehog in 9a. Could it be that it was looking after its sibling? It seems strange to put in all that effort and then go away.
Here's a clip of Nightshift under the decking in January, after she'd woken up from hibernation, collecting nest material:
Back to last night, it was the coldest night so far last night, and the hoglet in 9d was also pulling in the straw, so we put more in the tunnel for it as well. We've been round today and put more straw in the tunnels, and added more to 9b, which is still empty.
There were lots of babies in and out of the garden during the night, but we only saw one large adult besides Nightshift, and that was tucking in to the mealworms in 9e, the plastic box feeder. We saw it leaving about 6:15 this morning, just as it was getting light.
We are still getting the visitors at the front - there may be one in the boiler room at the moment. Unfortunately, we've discontinued the camera temporarily. The video capture stick collects .avi files, which I've been processing using Windows Movie Maker - we've never had a video camera, so we've never done any video editing, so we never had any software. I found Movie Maker is free, and it serves for what we need, which is just to cut out the hedgie clips. Unfortunately, after three days use it now tries to save to CD instead of disk, whatever I tell it to do. Seems to be a common problem, so it's on hold until I fix it or sort out an alternative, otherwise we'd get totally snowed under with videos. The other cameras are on hard disk recorders, and just overwrite the old video.
We had a lovely little visitor to 9e.
This seems to be Nightshift's larger one... must think up a name for it, as it's so much easier to use a name. It is certainly enjoying paddling in mealies. We've given up on the idea of a mixed diet. A few nights ago we put some chopped peanuts and sunflower kernels into 9e. A total disaster. Not a single hedgie visited 9e that night! Not only that, we had 88 motion detect captures of mice. There are a few mice around the garden - not really surprising as we are in a village in the country - but we'd never seen a mouse in 9e. The following night was mealies only, so the hedgies were back, with a few mice visits. Fortunately, no more mice since then.
Wonder if we'll see little Saffy tonight...
Thursday, 10 September 2009
Catching up...
We're still trying to catch up with things after all the excitement of the night before last, when Nightshift moved back into the garden, into nest box 9c, bringing two little hoglets with her. We were still looking at some of the clips today.
Last night seemed much quieter by comparison, although there was quite a lot of activity on the patio which left us rather confused as to who was where.
The conclusion we came to was that Nightshift spent today in 9c with the elder of her two babies in 9c. We aren't certain where her tiny hoglet was, but we think it spent the day alone in 9a. This is the hoglet with the suspect foot, whom we have christened Saffy.
A larger hoglet spent the day in 9d. What is confusing is that the markings on the chap are very similar to the one in 9c.
After Nightshift moved the babies in, she went out of the garden and left them to their own devices. She seems to have told them that is is their new home, but they seem pretty independent. We don't know if Saffy couldn't find the way home or just decided to go it alone.
Nightshift's other baby even ventured into 9b. It had a good sniff round and came out - we wondered if it had gone into the wrong box. Nightshift has lost interest in it completely. We cleaned it out and put fresh straw in, but she hasn't even been close enough to find out.
At one time we had five hedgies in the garden, in different areas, all bar Nightshift being babies - don't know what's happened to the older ones. Most of the time the babies seem to get on OK, but we did have a bit of pushing and shoving.
Here's Nightshift getting up with baby:
Two of the hoglets eating side by side on the ATM. Look how the one one the right seems to be expecting a nudge from the other one:
Here they are a little later after moving outside:
and here's the little chap going to bed in 9d:
Last night seemed much quieter by comparison, although there was quite a lot of activity on the patio which left us rather confused as to who was where.
The conclusion we came to was that Nightshift spent today in 9c with the elder of her two babies in 9c. We aren't certain where her tiny hoglet was, but we think it spent the day alone in 9a. This is the hoglet with the suspect foot, whom we have christened Saffy.
A larger hoglet spent the day in 9d. What is confusing is that the markings on the chap are very similar to the one in 9c.
After Nightshift moved the babies in, she went out of the garden and left them to their own devices. She seems to have told them that is is their new home, but they seem pretty independent. We don't know if Saffy couldn't find the way home or just decided to go it alone.
Nightshift's other baby even ventured into 9b. It had a good sniff round and came out - we wondered if it had gone into the wrong box. Nightshift has lost interest in it completely. We cleaned it out and put fresh straw in, but she hasn't even been close enough to find out.
At one time we had five hedgies in the garden, in different areas, all bar Nightshift being babies - don't know what's happened to the older ones. Most of the time the babies seem to get on OK, but we did have a bit of pushing and shoving.
Here's Nightshift getting up with baby:
Two of the hoglets eating side by side on the ATM. Look how the one one the right seems to be expecting a nudge from the other one:
Here they are a little later after moving outside:
and here's the little chap going to bed in 9d:
Wednesday, 9 September 2009
I'm not sure if I should write this post...
I'm not sure if I should be writing this post, following the post of G L Wilson in his lovely Hog Blog. He hasn't seen any hedgies for a few days, and the camera he uses to get his great captures has broken down. I hope this post doesn't make him more miserable. Seeing his hedgehog blog convinced me to start this one, to share the antics of these adorable creatures. It may help to cheer him up, so "GL", this is for you.
As reported last night, the was a lot of activity, mainly Nightshift-related. She was seen leading small hoglets in and out of the garden, around the garden and in and out of 9c. One tiny baby, who we think has a poorly foot, seemed to be following her a lot, but on further examination of the video clips this morning, Nightshift may have been showing more than one baby around - some clips seem to show an unmarked baby, some show quite distinct markings.
Nightshift brings the first baby:
and while Nightshift continues, baby stops for a meal. She looks very hungry:
A short while later Nightshift leaves, realises she has two in convoy, and returns them. One of the two seems to be the baby who was feeding in the previous clip.
The view from the other side:
Then she shows the way down to the patio and points out the preferred accommodation in 9c:
Nightshift lived in 9b for ages, until a squatter trashed the place (poo everywhere!) and she doesn't even look at the place now. Next back up to the water:
And here Nightshift leads her into 9c, although at first it seems Nightshift was considering 9d.
After they came up, Nightshift went out of the garden, leaving the baby exploring, It went all over the patio, behind all three nest boxes and generally getting to know its way round. It went up the ramp to the lawn and found its way back down later.
When we got up this morning we did the usual check of the accommodation. No sign of anyone in 9a, but there are triggers, so they are hidden in the straw in the bedroom. It was much colder this morning than yesterday.
9d is occupied by a baby, as we could see it on the video.
We couldn't tell with 9c, as when Nightshift went in for the first time last night she was feeling shy, and moved some straw over the camera. We expected to see the little baby with the poorly foot in there, as she had been shown 9c by Nightshift, and I saw her find her own way in about 2am. We were therefore surprised to see a trigger at about 9:30 this morning, and Nightshift came into the tunnel and lay down looking out. Apologies for the quality, but it's through the not-too-clean window (must clean it later) and getting reflections from the room. We don't know if baby is in with her. On several of the clips of baby, it seemed to be pushing its snout under Nightshift - looking to suckle, perhaps? Baby did drink an awful lot last night - about 12 minutes in one stint, and it had a good meal of mealies, too. This is the first time Nightshift has stayed for the day since July, so it may be she's returned and brought the family. We will see tonight...
Finally, a bit of technology. We have a Weather Station, which links to a PC. We are interested in something besides hedgehogs. It has three remote sensors, so we have one each in 9a, 9b and 9c. The one in 9a is on the ceiling, which is quite high, so it sort of gives the general temperature. 9b, 9c and 9d are all quite low, so the temperature sensors are on the wall in the bedroom. They do register the presence of the hedgehog quite well. This one at 9 o'clock this morning shows a fair bit of activity:
This is a capture at 12:00. Note that the graph autoscales, so the peaks are the same as the previous clip, but the temperature went up to 32 degrees C. That sudden temperature rise must mean Nightshift is leaning on the sensor.
So that's it for now. Having lots of cameras gives some great views, but on nights like this it takes two days to process one night's videos - and we have some work to do as well...Got to earn the money to buy all those mealworms.
Has anyone else seen how the mother disperses the hoglets? I have seen reports on other sites saying that the babies follow the mother for a couple of weeks, but last night was the first time we saw any following Nightshift. There have been quite a few hoglets around, but they didn't seem to have been following an adult when they first arrived.
As reported last night, the was a lot of activity, mainly Nightshift-related. She was seen leading small hoglets in and out of the garden, around the garden and in and out of 9c. One tiny baby, who we think has a poorly foot, seemed to be following her a lot, but on further examination of the video clips this morning, Nightshift may have been showing more than one baby around - some clips seem to show an unmarked baby, some show quite distinct markings.
Nightshift brings the first baby:
and while Nightshift continues, baby stops for a meal. She looks very hungry:
A short while later Nightshift leaves, realises she has two in convoy, and returns them. One of the two seems to be the baby who was feeding in the previous clip.
The view from the other side:
Then she shows the way down to the patio and points out the preferred accommodation in 9c:
Nightshift lived in 9b for ages, until a squatter trashed the place (poo everywhere!) and she doesn't even look at the place now. Next back up to the water:
And here Nightshift leads her into 9c, although at first it seems Nightshift was considering 9d.
After they came up, Nightshift went out of the garden, leaving the baby exploring, It went all over the patio, behind all three nest boxes and generally getting to know its way round. It went up the ramp to the lawn and found its way back down later.
When we got up this morning we did the usual check of the accommodation. No sign of anyone in 9a, but there are triggers, so they are hidden in the straw in the bedroom. It was much colder this morning than yesterday.
9d is occupied by a baby, as we could see it on the video.
We couldn't tell with 9c, as when Nightshift went in for the first time last night she was feeling shy, and moved some straw over the camera. We expected to see the little baby with the poorly foot in there, as she had been shown 9c by Nightshift, and I saw her find her own way in about 2am. We were therefore surprised to see a trigger at about 9:30 this morning, and Nightshift came into the tunnel and lay down looking out. Apologies for the quality, but it's through the not-too-clean window (must clean it later) and getting reflections from the room. We don't know if baby is in with her. On several of the clips of baby, it seemed to be pushing its snout under Nightshift - looking to suckle, perhaps? Baby did drink an awful lot last night - about 12 minutes in one stint, and it had a good meal of mealies, too. This is the first time Nightshift has stayed for the day since July, so it may be she's returned and brought the family. We will see tonight...
Finally, a bit of technology. We have a Weather Station, which links to a PC. We are interested in something besides hedgehogs. It has three remote sensors, so we have one each in 9a, 9b and 9c. The one in 9a is on the ceiling, which is quite high, so it sort of gives the general temperature. 9b, 9c and 9d are all quite low, so the temperature sensors are on the wall in the bedroom. They do register the presence of the hedgehog quite well. This one at 9 o'clock this morning shows a fair bit of activity:
This is a capture at 12:00. Note that the graph autoscales, so the peaks are the same as the previous clip, but the temperature went up to 32 degrees C. That sudden temperature rise must mean Nightshift is leaning on the sensor.
So that's it for now. Having lots of cameras gives some great views, but on nights like this it takes two days to process one night's videos - and we have some work to do as well...Got to earn the money to buy all those mealworms.
Has anyone else seen how the mother disperses the hoglets? I have seen reports on other sites saying that the babies follow the mother for a couple of weeks, but last night was the first time we saw any following Nightshift. There have been quite a few hoglets around, but they didn't seem to have been following an adult when they first arrived.
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