Hedgehog House Modification

There seems to be a couple of design faults in the hedgehog house which allow small cats to enter. Ideally the entrance should be on one side of the front rather than the middle. This would make the chicane harder to navigate for longer animals. Also the height of the entrance, at 6 inches, seems rather large. Hedgehogs are good a squeezing through tight gaps.





As a quick fix I screwed a piece of wood inside which reduced the height of the entrance from 6 inches to about 4 inches to see whether that will deter the thieving moggy.Also the food dish is now right at the back of the house.



Only time will tell whether that will do the job.

Hedgehog Food Thief

It didn't take long to see who or what was stealing the bits of dog food I put in the hedgehog house:



The house is supposed to be designed so that cats cannot get in. What is infuriating is that this thieving moggy has a collar so belongs to someone but it roams the area every night and is always hungry.

Food for the Hedgehog

When I checked the hedgehog house this morning I saw that the bit of tinned dog food I had put in there had been eaten. I have no idea what ate it - hedgehog, mouse or other furry creature? I took the opportunity to move the house to the hedgehog feeding area and give it a clean out. As it is in view of the camera I might find out what is visiting.



Of course I had a supervisor checking everything. After Penny watched me put some of her food in the hedgehog house she dashed indoors to gobble up the food in her dish in case that was given away as well.

I was pleased to see the male Blackcap visit the seed feeder this morning and I also spotted a grey squirrel slinking away as I went out the back door.

I Can See You

The Hedgehog missed a couple of nights but was back the past two nights tucking in to the crushed, unsalted peanuts I put out. Last night I tried to get a photo but Hoggy was too fast for me and scuttled off to find shelter. I just managed a quick glimpse before it made for the gap in the fence and through to next door's garden.

 

It doesn't look as though it has found the tinned dog food  I put in the hedgehog house so now the wind has died down and it doesn't feel so raw outdoors I will move the house near the feeding area.

Blackcap Visitor

Don't see these very often so it was nice to have a male Blackcap visit this morning:





Seems to be liking the sunflower hearts.

Macro on Monday - Guess What

OK. There were a few who guessed on the right lines for last week's Guess What. It was a close up of the battery switch on an electronic cigarette so Adrian and Glo who were correct and Wilma with her guess of a nicotine inhaler deserve the virtual gold stars.



Some years ago I decided to try weaning myself off my pipe and bought one of the original e-cigarettes which looked something like a cigarette. I found it unsatisfactory. The battery was supposed to switch on automatically when I sucked but it rarely worked efficiently. Also the small batteries used at that time needed recharging frequently.

I gave up and went back to my pipe for a long while until I discovered some modern e-cigs with larger batteries and manual switches. (the bottom one in the photo)



The main problem I found was keeping the mouth piece clear of any liquid as the nicotine irritates the lips. Recently I have discovered a newish adaption which has a container for the liquid and vaporiser which keeps the mouth piece clean and really works a treat. (Top of photograph)



On to the new puzzle photo for this week.
Guess What:


Clue: four legged vacuum cleaner

From a technical point of view I was very pleased with the above small crop. The photo was taken with my iPhone4 with yet another camera app (645 pro). Its main advantage is the ability to save developed RAW (dRAW) lossless TIFF files which give much clearer results.

Hedgehog Update:
No sign of the hedgehog these past two nights. I hope she (it is often a female which wakes early) has snuggled up in her nest and gone back to sleep for a while.  At least she has had a few nights feeding to help her.

Spring 2013

Looking at some information on the BBC website it shows that the temperature in this area for the same date in 2012 was +16C. Yesterday the temperature reached +2C with a wind chill of -4C in a blustery cold wind. At the time of writing this morning it is -0.5C

The Hedgehog arrived soon after 8 p.m. last night and scoffed nearly all the crushed peanuts I had put out. I hope it managed to find a warm nest site as it was snowing by 9 p.m..