I wrote after Matthew Parris's comment in last week's Times about the dog and the urban fox meeting and communicating in the night in the urban churchyard. I was reminded of it this morningwhen H, my neighbour, came round.
Yesterday she had taken the netting off the pond and when she had finished gardening she had forgotten to put it back on. When she went to the pond today there was a dead fieldmouse at the bottom of the pond and as she fished it out she saw there was also a half-grown hedgehog drowned in the pond too. Two little creatures needlessly gone - what a shame.
But I had always thought that because of the steps in my garden it would be impossible for me to have hedgehogs but obviously not - our gardens are equally steep and inaccessible. So now I am wondering what wanders around in my garden when I am asleep.
And there has been a strange squawking noise - very loud and very invasive, over the garden wall so to speak. We think we have solved the mystery of that too, this morning. There are two two half grown pigeons in the hedge. They are making enough noise for twenty two.
See you on another hot day tomorrow
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16 comments:
Our yard at our new house is not finished yet Pat so we have alot of bare dirt... How interesting it is see the footprints of those that cross the yard... deer, roadrunner,wild boar,fun... Living in the US i think it would be wonderful to have hedgehogs in your yard.. they are so adorable.. but perhaps a nuisance? For example i don't mind armadillos in my yard if only they wouldn't dig it up! Stay cool my friend! Hugs! deb
I have had all sorts die in the pool, even though it is surrounded by walls and fencing. Hedgehogs, mice, lizards, stick insects, etc, occasionally fall in and perish. There's little I can do about it, but to mourn their deaths.
Wildlife definitely roam at night and there is lots of activity. One of my neighbors installed night vision camera in his backyard and he loves watching the videos. Another neighbor once found a 12 ft. long snake in their swimming pool. The same neighbor had a deer jump a chain link fence, enter the swimming pool enclosure and fall into the pool. Our local Fire Dept. helped remove the live deer from the pool.
My husband was draining oil from a tractor. He set the pan of used oil to the side and worked away. When he went to pour the oil into the drum and found that a little wren had drowned. Just that quick.
It was mentioned on the TV news that a of young hedgehogs now leaving their nests are suffering from dehydration, and it can help to put out a dish of water for them.
We've occasionally been sitting in our ground level sunroom watching TV at night and a frog, raccoon, cat, or dog wanders by the exterior door to look in on us. We never know who is more startled!
Hugs!
We have a family of 5 chaffinches that have been visiting our bird bath for the past week, several times a day, alonside a robin and a couple of goldfinches. We have also put out a large shallow dish of water for hedgehogs and any other night visitors. There is no rain forecast for at least the next 5 days so the wildlife will be struggling.
We are beginnning to be desperate for Water here nw;
Wilting as I type! I loved it when wildlife paid a visit to our garden. There was a fox one summer afternoon taking the air at the end of the garden, collared doves nested between the wall of the house and the Sky dish, and a little mouse lived in the rockery behind the pond. I was thrilled when two frogs plopped in as soon as we started filling the pond, and later we had quite a population of newts too. I was even more thrilled when dragonflies began to visit. Happy days, happy memories.
Sorry for your friend. Last year when we had a drought I put small chicken waterers around for animals to get water. It cut down on the mortality in my calf waterers. This year we are flooding and I so wish I could share my water.
Wouldn't it be fun to know what small animals roamed your property at night.
A red squirrel comes visiting my windowsill as well as pigeons and other birds, for the old flat salad bowl I have put out there for them with water. I have placed a piece of rock inside so that bees and other insects can save themselves. With ponds and such, it is always a good idea to have a branch or something like that placed so that any small animal can climb out if they have fallen in.
I’m so glad I finally got myself a wildlife camera this year, so interesting to see the activity at night and now I know who to blame for all the garden damage. Once I get some shots of a wild boar I shall be ready to produce my own documentary, watch out Attenborough.
A little wooden plank for them to walk up and out is good. Hedgehogs can climb very well - steps and trees etc.
We have a persimmon tree in our backyard and it is loaded with persimmons that fall to the ground after they are sweet and ripe in late fall. Most of the animals love them.Though the squirrels like to wait until they have freeze dried on the tree so they are not so squishy and sticky. Squirrels are very fastidious. We have had raccoons in the tree eating the persimmons, possums, one time a fox was in our driveway near the persimmon tree, either for the persimmons or the animals that came to eat them. I know that deer sometimes cut through our neighborhood, and I bet they eat persimmons, too. We have a ton of skunks (unfortunately) that live in the neighborhood, and lately coyotes have been spotted in the neighborhood. Our neighbor goes out in her front yard near some large shrubs she has and feeds the possums. She is up to six coming for dinner now. The armadillos haven't made it as far as my area of St. Louis yet, but they are headed this way. I would love to have a night view camera outside to see all of the wild life (animal and human) that goes on around our yard and street at night.
Susie - you do have a variety - during one of my visits to the US or Canada I saw a lot of night time wild life - even bears. Wonderful
Thank you Tom - shall pass that on. Thanks Librarian too.
Heather how I agree with you. A visiting friend last week, who knew my first husband, recalled how we had so many newts in our garden pond that he took some in a bucket to a pond in a common nearby
Thanks friends. Still scorching hot. Would love to leave some water out. I shall search for a suitable container.
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