Not much time for a post today - it is nearly my bed time.
Today was our Newspaper, garden refuse and recycling day. Usually my Carer puts the bins and boxes just outside the garage door (over a certain age and living alone means I get preferential treatment and don't have to get my bins to the bottom of the drive.)
But when my Carer went it was just too wet and windy so I said I would ask my evening Carer, W, to do it. At tea time the weather was worse and what's more the wind was gale force and it was pouring with rain. The bin, box and newspaper bag were all just inside the garage door so I said I would push them over the threshold when I got up this morning.
At 6.30am no improvement in the wind which was thrashing about so I left them just inside the garage hoping the bin men would co-operate. And it was then - in the half light - that I saw him (or could have been a 'her'. ) Toddling round the corner towards the bins came a half-grown hedgehog. The first one I have seen since coming to live here. My neighbour M saw one but not me - I have always thought our gardens had too many steps. I came back in, got a saucer and put some fish I had cooked on to it and took it back outside. I reasoned that it was a mild enough source of food and as a half-grown with Autumn any day now any feeding up that could be done should help the build up of weight to survive hibernation.
I shall look tomorrow to see if the food has gone.
Alright, a simple, everyday story but it started my day off on a high note and I have managed to get various jobs done. D, the lady who cleans through for me once a month, texted to say she was ill and couldn't come (she has Diabetes 1 as well as several other conditions). She will come next week instead.
It is now after half past eight in the evening so shall start preparing for bed soon. Sleep well - see you all tomorrow.
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22 comments:
I hope the hedgehog appreciated the fish and takes up residence.
Who can avoid a smile at the thought of a Hedgehog visitor?
We had a family in our back garden, when I was a kidlet in Kent, many moons ago.
There is something about hedgehogs that makes one feel very protective towards them. We know there must be some in our garden as we see the evidence each day so P has built a Hog Hotel, just in case.
Nite nite x
Hope the hedgehog finds it and not the cats. We've seen no hedgehogs at all on the hight cam this year.
Your English wildlife is lovely, though the rabbits imported here became problematic.
I've always liked the delightful illustrations of the characters in Kenneth Grahame's Wind in the Willows by the illustrator Ernest Shepard.
We don't have badgers and moles here ..Unlike Mr. Toad, our cane toads are truly horrible and a spreading pest! Invasive and again, bought in from elsewhere.
I delight in our echidnas here, as you do hedgehogs. Hope you see your little visitor again Pat. I wish I had seen creatures like moles, badgers and hedgehogs when I had quick visits to England - saw plenty of mole mounds though!
- Pam, Aust.
What a joy to have a hedgehog visit you, I hope it found the tasty food you put out for it.
I hope your visitor eats the food, I always like seeing hedgehogs, and seeing any pieces of thread that hav e been caught in their spikes. Is it Alison Uttley who wrote stories with hedgehogs in?
You might well have a hedgehog family nearby. In wildlife, there are almost no singletons. Your weather sounds pretty stormy. Hopefully it will clear soon and you can enjoy some cool and sunny days.
This is my first time stopping by your blog. Very interesting. I have never seen a hedgehog in the wild, hopefully they will find it!
How lovely to have a hedgehog in your garden. We used to get them in ours and I remember sitting outside late one summer evening and hearing one snuffling in the flower border and coming toward me. It came right up to my feet, had a sniff then scuttled off into another part of the garden. Hope your recycling was collected.
You just never know where a post from Pat might lead! It's been more than 20 years since I taught, but this reminded me of a children's author who loved hedgehogs. Sure enough, I found two of Jan Brett's books on my shelf. I googled and discovered her doing book tours in 2019, and showing how to draw hedgehogs. Interesting-- she pointed out that there are no hedgehogs in the US, and she is from Massachusetts. Beatrix Potter began her interest! I, too, hope the food you put out was eaten!
How wonderfully thoughtful and kind your bin-person is and what a surprise to see the hedgehog! You were also wonderfully thoughtful and kind to leave food out so he/she could get through the winter a tad plumper.
Sweet dreams!
Hugs!
I imagine it was exciting to see a hedgehog. I always wanted to see one and I was tickled with the little passages made in the old stone fences for them. It was not until I read this post and wandered off to read about it that I realized that hedgehogs are omnivores. I thought they were herbivores like rabbits.
I hope your hedgehog grows up hale and strong!
I have to check which colors of carts go out. We have black, blue and green to remember.
I just saw the tail end of a Fox this morning at 5 am. I haven't seen many this year, I wonder if they are being 'dealt with' by some authority. There were certainly a lot of them about.
The problem with leaving food out overnight is that you can never be sure what animal found and ate it. It could just as easily be a cat or a fox, as much as the hedgehog.
We used to have a family of hedgehogs who lived under the shed In Chelmsford but they are becoming rare, though there are little rescue centres all over the country.
We saw a little hedgehog scuttling from one bunch of shrubs to another earlier this year, so I presume they live somewhere around the garden. Our cat had a "What is THAT?" expression on her face!
What a treat to see a hedgehog. I thought fish was bad for hedgehogs as I had read don’t give them cat food with fish. I was, however, wrong, cooked fish is fine. I learnt something today.
Derek - or even a rat! I don't mind what eats it really I love foxes and cats - they are very welcome to it and if it is a rat then we are all supposed to be within so many yards of a rat at night - so be it.
RunNRose - everyone loves Mrs Tiggywinkle. In the UK so many of them get run over on our roads and they are becoming quite scarce. It is a good idea to supplement their intake of slugs and shails if possible at this time of the year because this year's babies are not always big enough and strong enough to survive the winter hibernation.
JayCee - lovely to have a 'handy' man who can build a hog Hotel!
Thanks everyone. Food has gone so I have definitely fed something but who knows what!
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