Hedgehog Awareness Week

When it was time for a new fence a couple of years ago we decided that we'd have a hedgehog hole put in as part of it. We hadn't had any hogs in the garden for a few years [as far as we knew], but we were in luck and our prickly visitors came and had babies. One called Celia was a late arrival and ended up being cared for by a wildlife hospital and was then released last year into my friend L's wildlife friendly garden in the countryside.

Unfortunately we didn't have a repeat performance last summer. The two things may not have been connected in any way, but our neighbours [who are very pleasant I hasten to add] had blocked up the hole because they had a small puppy...said hound is now fully grown and the hedgehog hole is open once more. I noticed some probable hog poo on our path early last week and when I inspected the back garden more closely it was with delight that I noticed that there were several little black messages left for me advertising our spiny friends' visitations. Since then I've seen it bumbling about on a couple of evenings and having spoken to my friend I'm now leaving fresh water out for it every evening. I have also bought a small packet of this [I chose this one as it doesn't have suet in and despite it making them poorly some hedgehog food brands still have it in]. I shall leave a little out for it a couple of times a week as a top up to its main varied wild diet. 

Now to see if it approves of this new addition to its food supply🦔😀 Coincidentally it's hedgehog awareness week and there's more info here for those who may want more details https://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/hedgehog-awareness-week-30th-april-6th-may-2023/#:~:text=Hedgehog%20Awareness%20Week%20is%20organised,how%20you%20can%20help%20them.

Arilx