Wednesday 19 August 2009

Des Res Rent Free - Only Hedgehogs May Apply

Well - I have finally got 'Round Tuit' and installed the new Desirable Residence, one Hedgehog House. I gathered some more dried leaves to put in it and tidied up the wiring.

Tidying up the wiring Tidying up the wiring

The loop in the outside wiring is to let any rain run away from the hole where the cables enter the house.

I lugged the house and the two reels of cable which were now attached round to the wild area of the garden behind the shed. (Being well built of thick wood it is very heavy)

Des Res

Then came the task of making room to slide it under one of the small evergreen trees. I had to cut away a few of the lowest branches which meant crawling through dead pine needles and dead holly leaves. As well as being prickled my arm got bitten by an unseen bug or ant and I still have the red lump to prove it. I hope some Hedgehog appreciates the suffering caused in its name :)

Eventually I was able to slide the house in to position.

Hedgehog House

A bit more tidying up and fencing erected to keep the nose of an inquisitive Lurcher away just left the cables from the camera to fix. A quick test meant I could breathe a sigh of relief that the camera was working OK.

Des Res in position

From the photos it gives the impression the house is tilted but actually it is the drunken angle the exhausted cameraman was holding the camera. It was a hot day and I think I must have sweated off a couple of pounds by the time I had finished. It is a lot darker round the back of the shed than it appears in the photos. I was using flash. The Des Res is next to a fence which protects it from the prevailing westerly winds and the bushes protect it from northerly cold blasts. The shed is on the South side so the Sun rarely reached down that low.

I was not the only one exhausted by the heat. Bobby lay in the Sun keeping an eye on things and when I had finished he retired to the shade at the back of the shed.

Bobby

Now it is a waiting game to see if and when a local Hedgehog starts looking for a suitable place to shelter during the day and to hibernate during the cold months ahead.

Still no news about Hope, the young Hedgehog. I may phone Elaine at the weekend to enquire after the little hog's health. I don't like to pester Elaine as she gives all her waking hours to looking after many sick and injured hogs. She has my phone number and I am sure she would have let me know if there was a major problem. As Hope was under weight it will take a while to build up her strength and weight so she can survive the hibernation period.

A Lovely Surprise

When I visited Porcelain Rose yesterday I was tickled pink to see Glo had designed a 'change of address' card for my Hedgehogs. It is beautiful and very cleverly put together. You can see it here - Hedgehog Haven - well worth a visit.

11 comments:

  1. What a lot of work you have done, and on such a hot day as well. Your painstaking care is very obvious, and hopefully it will be appreciated by a hedgehog or two! Crawling through prickly things to set up house seems rather apt since you are doing it for hedgehogs ;), however I'm sorry to hear you got a nasty red lumpy bite from something that didn't like to be interrupted. I hope you had something to put on the bite to take the sting and redness away, and that you drank lots of water to re-hydrate!!

    The camera setup is amazing and you have taken so much into consideration as far as the setup.

    Thanks for the mention and link ~ I had fun making the change of address card, so I'm glad you got a kick out of it as well. :) Once animals have names, they become people, don't they?

    PS Understand about you not wanting to bother Elaine, and love the title of your post! An ad for the local Hedgehog Newspaper....hmmmm ;)

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  2. You have been busy John! I do hope when the new tenants move in they appreciate all your efforts and give you plenty of good footage!

    It was nice to see Inspector Bobby in his other guise of foreman/overseer ;)

    I hope the bite has eased now, ouch!

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  3. Hi, we were given a link to your page by Shirley. You have a great page with some excellent photo's and bloggs. The video cam is a great idea. It's good to see there are so many peopleout there that are as daft as us about wildlife.

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  4. A major effort indeed. I do hope the 'hoggies' come and stay! Then we could all enjoy them :-)

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  5. A lot of effort put into it all John; I'm sure they'll take up residence soon.
    Poor old Bobby looks worn out by it all :)

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  6. Hi Glo. It is in my nature Glo. I seem to spend so much time looking for possible future problems and dangers. That's why my Round Tuit pile gets so high. I spend too long thinking instead of doing :)

    He, He. I did think of putting a 'for sale or rent' sign up next to the hog house.

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  7. Hi Jan. In spite of trying various creams the bite area still itches but it is slowly getting better. I didn't see what it was that attacked me so wasn't sure which was the best treatment.

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  8. Hello Martyn and Jill. Many thanks for visiting and your kind comment. Yes - definitely second childhood time and daft about my local wildlife.

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  9. Hi Keith. Bobby was shattered with all that supervision :) I feel so sorry for furry and hairy animals in this weather. At least we can take a layer off when we get hot.

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  10. That's a very technical piece of kit John, BBC Springwatch arn't up to your standard.

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  11. Thanks Roy. Programs like Springwatch were the inspiration to make me want to know what goes on when I am in the land of nod :)

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Thank you for visiting. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Any comment, or correction to any information or identification I get wrong, is most welcome. John

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