Was it Henry or Honey

... or something else?  At bedtime three nights ago Bobby was dashing round the garden following a scent he had picked up. Nothing was to be seen and I assumed it had been an unwelcome four legged furry nocturnal visitor. Nothing was noticed the following night. Last night at bedtime Bobby made a dash across the lawn to the ground feeder. At first I couldn't make out anything but as my eyes became accustomed to the torchlight I made out the unmistakable shape of a large Hedgehog. Needless to say I rushed in to grab a camera but by the time I returned it had vanished.

To say the least I was surprised to see a Hedgehog at this time of year, especially as temperatures have been around 3C for nearly a week. They do occasionally wake from hibernation on warm days. I wonder whether Bobby had disturbed it. There have been occasions when I have wondered if something was nesting under one of my hedges as every so often Bobby would gently creep under wagging his tail like mad.

Fortunately I had been putting out some bird food, including kibbled peanut, at night ready for the early birds so I guess that was what hedgie was eating. At least it had access to a reasonable protein diet as there won't be many beetles around for it to eat at this time of year. Also it will be able to get access to water as I have seen Hedgehogs climb up to the pond waterfall in the past.

I had though I had lost all the Hedgehogs when the three regulars stopped visiting somewhere around late August last year. Far too early to have started hibernation. It was great to see I could possibly have a resident.