Hello Ladies,
This is a rather off topic post compared with my regular beauty and fashion postings but I wanted to share something which has put a massive smile on my face the past few days.
My mum is a keen gardener and thought there was some rubbish under our hedges, which turned out to be a hedgehog nest. As soon as she saw the hedgehog she immediately pushed the nest back into place and left it alone.
My elderly neighbours called on Friday to say that the hedgehog from our garden was in their garage so I put some gloves on and lifted it back into our garden. I then put out some cat food and to my amazement it sat and ate it in front of me. It then toddled back off into the bushes.
We put food out last night next to where we had seen the nest and at about 9pm we saw the hedgehog eating, the next thing we knew there were three eating- two little hoglets. They seemed to be the size of large oranges and then went into their nest. A few minutes later an even smaller hoglet appeared and began munching away.
I have spent about half on hour lying flat on the grass this evening watching them again. It is a really wonderful sight to behold.
I started doing some basic research and figures suggest hedgehogs have decreased in number by 25% over the last 10years. If you have a garden please put out fresh water every day as it is difficult for the hedgehogs to find water in this weather. Especially if it is warm. They will eat beetles, worms, slugs and caterpillars, but if you know you have garden visitors why not provide some dry cat food? It really is a sight to behold when they are enjoying their food and they are such noisy eaters!
This evening we think one of the hoglets went walkies as we seen the mum escorting it back to the nest, stopping every few seconds to ensure baby was still present. They must be less than 6-8 weeks as at this point they go off on their own and I learned that hedgehogs will do what they can to avoid other hedgehogs and live alone.
Please don’t use pellets and pesticides in your garden- this will harm hedgehogs and there really isn’t any need if you have one of these little critters as they will eat them anyway.
I hope you like the pictures! Call the hedgehog society if you are worried about a hedgehog; especially if you see them out during the daytime. 01584 890801 follow on Twitter @hedgehogsociety.
Do any of you have any visitors to your gardens?
Lauren x
Ah, I love hedgehogs so much! You're quite lucky to have so many in your garden! I haven't seen any hedgehogs for a while unfortunately xx
Awww so cute. Following your hedgehog watching on twitter 😛 x
omg how cute!! i have never seen a hedgehog in my life! thanks for sharing! 🙂 <3
xoxo,
Jasmine
Love this post! They are so cute 😀 Thanks for the tips xxx
That is too cute! And your are so sweet for looking out for them. They really are fabulous little creatures 🙂 Xx.
I know Amy I can't believe it, in the past we have just had one lone hedgehog, never a little family! X
Haha thanks Jess! I shall keep updating x
Aw well I'm glad I introduced you to your first hedgehog jasmine! Xx
Thanks Cat, and thank you for sharing the picture on Twitter- such a great shot xxx
Thanks Katie, they really are xx
Babe this post has made my day 😀 thank you so much. We're usually quite lucky and regularly meet a hedgehog or two around our garden 🙂 – LOVELY post – ill definitely get onto that hedgehog watch twitter account too!!!
Xox
HannahHindmarsh.blogspot.com
this is the cutest post! Id love to see a hedehog around where I live. Would love to see updates on the little hoglets! x
This post made me smile, it's so cute 🙂
Lea x
http://shebeginstosee.blogspot.com
That is too cute, we have baby frogs and baby magpies at the minute but no prickly friends.
Roz xx
http://shoesspiceandallthingsnice.blogspot.co.uk
Aw how sweet! Hedgehogs are funny little creatures
We've had a hedgehog in our garden before! And once a peacock was on our drive?! Mental!