Hungry Hedgehog

After spotting a Hedgehog a few nights ago I placed some food in the Hedgehog house hoping it would return. It needs a few really good meals to put back the weight lost during the long Winter hibernation period.. Delighted to see it came again this morning:



There was dried Hedgehog bites and dried mealworms to choose from. As in the past the mealworms were favourite.

No recent sightings of the female Blackcap. She visited the bird feeder for three mornings and then disappeared. I understand that some are resident in the UK and some migrate here at this time of year. Maybe she was an early visitor replenishing her energy before moving further inland. I live about 4 miles inland from the coast.

Hedgehog Visitor

Well, it's been nearly a month since I had anything new to report on the garden wildlife front. The Bluetits have been visiting the camera nestbox several times every day. Always the same routine. One enters and waits. The second one arrives and the first immediately leaves.

During the spell of milder weather there were no visits by the Pied Wagtail but it has returned now the frosts have returned.

The hedgehog I mentioned some time ago has been visiting the garden every night. Yesterday I got round to fixing up the camera in the Hedgehog House.



It seems to be thriving well and appears non the worse for being out of hibernation so early.

When Hedgehogs Meet

There have been several times over the past few weeks when two Hedgehogs have arrived at the feeding station. The same thing happens every time. One is determined that all the food is its. No sharing allowed! The video is longer than usual at a bit over four minutes.



It took two attempts to build this video. For some unknown reason iMovie keeps adding spurious sounds while compiling so this version was made using Filmora X. The sound track uses music included with Filmora. All for free as well!

Balckbird, Sneak Thief

Male Blackbird acting nervously, or guiltily, as it sneaks in the Hedgehog feeding station to steal some food.



A similar thing happened last year with the old feeding station.

Hedgehog Midnight Feast

Hedgehog visits to the garden are sporadic so I was really pleased to get some video capture of one using the Hedgehog House as a feeding station.



Food provided is a mixture of commercial Hedgehog food, dried mealworms and crushed unsalted peanuts.

Ready for the Next Visit

I removed the camera I had in the top of the bird table as it was too close to the birds to give crisp pictures. It now has pride of place in the Hedgehog House where, hopefully, we will see a Hedgehog feeding.

The camera in the Hedgehog House. Even though it is wireless it still has a 12V power feed.



The view taken in by the camera:



Now wating for the next night time visitor. No visitors recorded last night.

New Hedgehog House

Last Summer I had bought another Hedgehog House to set up hoping it would be used for nesting or hibernation. Unfortunately it wasn't but was needed this year as a feeding station. I had used the old one for about thirteen years and was well and truly rotting away.

The new one (much of it is made from recycled materials):



Inside view shows the entrance tunnel and the food dish I put in there:



Last year I had a camera fixed to the block of wood on top of the tunnel. Next job is to get that set up again. Will the Hedgehog take to the new feeding station? I need not have worried! First visit was last night:



Short video:



Mostly from the main video camera with a short close view from the trail camera. The sudden bright light is the IR LEDs on the trail camera switching on. Food offered is bought Hedgehog food plus well crushed peanuts and dried mealworms. Outside the house is a dish of water. Never put out milk for Hedgehogs as their digestive system cannot cope with it.

Two Hedgehogs Meet in the Hedgehog House

Not for the first time two Hedgehogs have tried to feed at the same time in the Hedgehog House. Always the same outcome. A tussle over who is going to stay and have a free meal. Fortunately only egos are bruised in these encounters. The ability to curl up and being covered in spines makes for good protection during arguments.



There were several more solo feeding sessions later during the night. For some, as yet unknown, reason the outside camera doesn't seem to be recording sound.

Not Only Hedgehogs

There are visits by Hedgehogs about five nights a week but others have also discovered the supply of free food.



I haven't seen the mouse for a while. Maybe the Fox found it.

Still Visiting

The Hedgehog(s) are still frequently visiting my garden. This is a compilation from three different cameras.

Hedgehog Feast

Finally managed to record some video of the hedgehog feeding inside the hedgehog house:



The light spilling out of the hedgehog house is IR which looks bright when seen by the trail camera. I tried my first camera attempt with the 12V supply from a battery. The video was still suffering interference so I obtained a tp-link tapo TC-60 wifi video camera to try. Bingo!



All went well, slightly out of focus as the hedgehog house was too small to move the camera well away but still a fair result. The camera has a microSD card to save the videos. It can be programmed to record only when motion is detected. The video clips can be downloaded by wifi to the makers app on a smart phone ot tablet. This is an indoor camera so should be OK in the hedgehog house but is not waterproof for exterior use. The 9V supply is in a nearby shed.

The feast .....



..... is a mixture of bought hedgehog food and dried mealworms. Water is available elsewhere in the garden.

Hedgehog Visit This Morning

Recent night time wildlife video clips have been taken using a ToGuard H100 trail camera. I am slowly finding the best settings to achieve the results I want. I think this morning's capture is about right. One of three hedgehog visits in the early hours this morning to their feeding station in the hedgehog house:



Previously I found that full IR lighting from the camera resulted in over exposed close subjects. I now have it on the economy setting. I also increased the maximum length of each clip to 30 seconds. The video quality can be set as high as 4K but I have found 1296 P30 seems good enough to keep some detail when I zoom in, as I did with this one using Wondershare Filmora X video editing software.

Lucky I remembered to check how much food was left in the dish. Previously it had been going down slowly. This morning there were just a few scraps left. Maybe there is more than one visiting to feed. It is also a good recommendation for the Hedgehog food I bought from CJ Wildlife.

Two Hedgehogs Visit

A hedgehog visits and enters the hedgehog house where there is a dish of food. (I have added some bought hedgehog food to mix with the crushed peanuts I mentioned in a previous post.) Soon after that another arrives. What appears to be a fight between them is the male trying to persuade the female he is ready to mate. There are short gaps in the filming as the trail camera pauses for a while after each fifteen seconds of video capture.



The camera keep reporting a low battery voltage even though it is connected to a mains six volt power supply. I think the long connecting cable from the PSU is causing the voltage to drop when the IR LEDs switch on so they are automatically switched off again. Something to sort out here.

P.S. Moved things around so an extension cable is no longer needed. Once that was done the reported power went from 75% to the full 100%. The cable I had bought is too thin, with too much resistance causing a voltage drop when a lot of extra power was needed to light the IR LEDs.

Prickly Visitor

Had a very pleasant surprise to see a hedgehog had visited the back garden recently:



There was a time, some years ago, I would have two or three visiting every night throughout the Summer. I hope this one becomes a regular. To give it a bit of encouragement I have moved the old hedgehog house near to where it was seen so I could put some food inside, safe from cats, pigeons and Penny:



I also crushed some of the birds' peanuts to place in the hedgehog house.



Remember, don't use peanuts sold for human consumption as they may be salty which could kill a hedgehog.

This is the trail camera which has captured the video clips of fox and hedgehog night visitations:



The shelf above the camera is to give a bit of extra protection when we have heavy rainfall. The camera body is weather proof but a bit of extra protection against the elements never goes amiss.

Hedgehog and Great Tits

It has been three days since a Hedgehog visited but last night one was foraging for crushed unsalted peanuts in the Hedgehog House. It was followed by a mouse and at first light a Blackbird ventured in for a quick look:



The Great Tit nestbox continues to be a hive of activity with both parent birds fetching food for the babies. If the male arrives with food and the female is already there he hands over the food to her. If he is alone then he feeds them himself:

Hedgehog Sleep Over

Last night the Hedgehog went in the hedgehog house about 10.30 p.m.:



It spent some time snuffling out the food I had put in there. Eventually it settled down and dozed a few times, leaving about 3 o'clock in the morning.

Little and Large (Hedgehogs)

Occasionally two Hedgehogs are feeding at the same time. This time a juvenile was eating inside the Hedgehog House when an adult turned up. When the youngster left the house and saw the adult it was very cautious and decided to make for pastures new. It looks as though the adult made sure the little one continued on its away:



Yesterday I had zoomed the outside camera for a bit closer coverage outside the Hedgehog House. Most of the IR LEDs on the camera are covered with electrical tape. There are 5 waterproof 1W lamps just above the slabs which enables the camera to work in colour.

Two Juvenile Hedgehogs

Checking through last night's video captures I was expecting to see the usual solo adult Hedgehog make a visit or two. It was a real thrill to see two juveniles - most probably from this year's brood. The one in the Hedgehog House was having a short nap when a second one turned up. After a look round outside the house the second one went in to search for any food inside:



An adult had visited earlier on so that makes at least three Hedgehogs visiting the garden at the moment. Great to see them coming to eat so they put on enough weight to see them through their Winter hibernation period.

A still shot from the video:
 

This morning I saw a Great Tit make another inspection of the nestbox. Also it was a surprise to see a juvenile Goldfinch visit the feeder. I guess they may have had two broods this year.

Friday at the Flicks - Food for Spiky, Penny Investigates

It's been a pretty uncomfortable week. Now idea how but I managed to strain a back muscle a few days ago which made it difficult to find a comfortable sitting or sleeping position. It didn't help that there was work which had to be done in the garden. Fortunately it seems to be easing now.

Not a lot different here on the wildlife front so here is a capture of me scattering the crushed, unsalted peanuts ready for the regular night visitors.



Also a short capture of Penny trying to find out if there was a hog in the Hedgehog House. It's a good job she hasn't found out how to lift up the roof. It looks as though she is knocking on the front door as well as listening for any sounds of movement and trying to see inside. The house was empty at that particular time:



Have a great weekend observing whatever your local wildlife is up to.

Hedgehog 1 Cat 0

So far so good. Last night a hedgehog entered the hedgehog house to eat some of the food I had placed in there. It looked to be a bit of a squeeze but it managed OK. As far as I can tell there were two different hedgehogs visiting early last night though only one entered the house. One thing I had forgotten - hedgehogs and plastic saucers don't mix. They always end up tipping the water out. Now replaced with a heavier water bowl.




I'm glad they came early as it kept snowing on and off though there is only a thin layer this morning. One long range weather forecast I read yesterday said that we can expect these low temperatures for another 15 to 20 days! At the time of writing (7 a.m.) we are getting a heavy snowfall. Looks as though someone needs to write a new song - I'm Dreaming of a White Easter.

When I checked the overnight video recording I could see that the cat had tried several times to get in the house but failed every time. So far it looks as though the simple modification to the entrance has done the trick.

Checking the contents of the house, the hog had eaten the crushed, unsalted peanuts and dried mealworms but not the dog food.