Friday at the Flicks - I'm Hungry + Hedgehog Meets Magpie

As far as I can see the two young Hedgehogs visit every night and really enjoy their food. In fact they eat as though they hadn't eaten for a fortnight.  This clip was taken with the Hitachi DVD camcorder set to night vision so movement will be a bit blurred.



In the same food dish there are also seeds for the early morning birds. The first to arrive at the moment is a Magpie closely followed by a group of Rooks all trying to fill their throat pouches as fast as they can. At this time when they are probably feeding their young their usual sociable nature becomes a bit strained. It was a pity there is no microphone with that camera so you will have to imagine the squawking and cawing going on.



I was pleased to see that there is a Hedgehog once again sleeping in the Hedgehog House, the first time for three days. I had a look to see at what time the hog entered the box and found this - The Hedgehog arrived for a late night snack and at the same time a Magpie arrived for its early morning feed. A minute or so later the hog made its bed in the house.



Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you. You never know what is going to happen next.
By the way. I have just heard my first Cuckoo, not just of this Spring but the first I have heard in a few years.

First Fledgeling, Unidentified Bird, Pond Rustler and Others

Yesterday was the first time this year I have seen a young bird arrive in the garden. To start with there was an adult Dunnock on a branch near the feeders. It was singing and flapping its wings over and over again. At first I thought it was a mating ritual until I spotted this juvenile.



On observing for some time it looked as though the adult was trying to call its youngster and persuade it to fly to the tree. The fledgling Dunnock was having none of it and stubbornly stayed where it was for several minutes.



In the end the youngster flew to the back of the garden and the adult followed it. At no time did I see an adult attempt to feed it.

While we were on our afternoon walkabout there were a couple of birds in the horse paddock. They looked vaguely familiar to me but for the life of me I haven't been able to identify them. The photos are not good as they were a long way off and nearly always on the move.





On the photos the markings look so much like a Song Thrush but I am sure they were much bigger and with longer legs. Their movement was reminiscent of a shore bird. I tried to get a better view but that scared them off.

Also during the walk through the back of the graveyard we saw the largest congregation of 7 Spot Ladybirds I have ever seen. There were these few on a fallen branch and the surrounding Ivy held not dozens but scores of them.



As usual there was at least one escapee from the neighbouring house. Normally the ducks or chickens retreat rapidly when I try to get closer but this fine fellow was more than happy to pose for a portrait.



Late on in the day I spied a female Blackbird which kept standing on the rim of the nursery pond, reaching in and taking something out.





Initially I thought it was rustling the tadpoles for a tasty snack but when I went over to the pond I could see the remains of pond snail shells. A good job there are dozens in there.

This morning it is dull and wet but I did my duty and tied Bobby up outside the Polling Station while I finally made my mind up which would be the least of the political evils on offer.

Those Young Hedgehogs

No photographic opportunities during the day as I had become Tea Boy for two sets of workmen and Bobby had to keep checking on them to make sure they weren't slacking! The electricians were changing my ancient consumer unit with only four fuses for a modern one with lots of space for expansion, installing needed earth bonding and a new cable for the other workers. The installation engineers were installing air conditioning in the lounge. The indoor and outdoor units were bulkier than I had anticipated but that was made up by the effiency of the system which can cool the room or extract heat from outdoors and heat the room. On a trial this morning with the outdoor temperature at 8C it extracted plenty of heat and raised the room temperature 3C in a little under three quarters of an hour.

After a cooked meal we both had a much needed siesta. As daylight faded the first of the young Hedgehogs arrived and spent a while snacking. I went in the kitchen to watch and take a bit of video. After a short while I could hear snuffling, scraping and crunching. The second youngster was coming along a narrow gravel path next to the shed. They both met up just out of my sight so I grabbed the old Canon 350D and went out hoping to photograph them both together. That was not to be. The Canon pulses the flash rapidly to help it focus in the dark but it takes so long about it that one hog had moved away by the time this was taken.



A short while later one youngster was back at the feeding dish and I could see the other racing across the lawn so they had not been put off by the experience.  At our bedtime Bobby could immediately hear or smell Hedgehog. There was one of the youngsters on the paved area near the side gate. When Bobby had done what he needed to do and had gone back inside I got the Lumix and a torch in the hopes the hog would still be around. My luck was in. With the aid of the torch and the red LED the Lumix uses  for night focussing I was able to get a quick decent shot.



Poor thing does look a bit apprehensive but the experience didn't scare them away as at least one was back at the food dish by midnight. No takers again in the Hedgehog House but at least I know it does get used from time to time.

Hedgehog Awareness Week

It wasn't until I had a look at Twosie the Hedgehog blog that I found out that this week is Hedgehog Awareness Week. There you will find a link to an article on the Daily Mail website.

Last night I was very confused. Just how many different Hedgehogs are there visiting my garden this year? Last night there were two young hogs, one of which should be Hoggy. The previous night there was a fully grown hog and then there is the one with one eye. So it would appear there are at lest four.

This is when the two youngsters met for a couple of times:



Though the Hedgehog House shows signs of moved bedding since Hoggy left about 8.30 last night I can't see any signs of occupation this morning. The young ones spent a lot of time eating last night so it looks as though I will have to put out more dried mealworms, crushed unsalted peanuts and sunflower hearts to cater for the rush! Just out of sight of the camera is a bowl of fresh water - always water, never milk. Though they will drink milk their digestive system cannot cope with it and it could end up killing them.

Lots of workmen here soon so I had better go and get on with what I am supposed to be doing.

The Wanderer Returns - Then There Were Two

The little Hedgehog appeared as usual for its equivalent of breakfast and made several visits to the Hedgehog House. From my observations I had assumed this hog was not fully grown and this was borne out when a larger Hedgehog appeared. The first time this year there has been more than one at a time. The larger, and presumably older, hog was the more nervous of the two and didn't stay long to eat much of the dried mealworms, crushed, unsalted peanuts and Sunflower hearts on offer. Today there is a resident again in the house. I assume it is the smaller one which I will call Hoggy as I can't think of another neutral name starting with H.

Here are some short snippets from last night's video captures. Uploading to YouTube was very slow this morning with long periods of inactivity (not unusual these days) so I uploaded the video file to Flickr. Flickr cut the video short (maximum 90 sec) so I ended up having to go back to YouTube in the end!



Not much in the way of photography recently. It has been raining on and off with the odd hail shower. Some birds are visiting the feeders in pairs - Goldfinches, Blue Tits, Coal Tits and Great Tits are all arriving in pairs. They are not using my nest boxes but I think they are roosting not too far away. The corvids continue to arrive as soon as it starts to get light and soon finish off any food left by the Hedgehogs.

Not a lot seen out and about. (These taken with the Lumix)
A couple of Wood Pigeons in a tree



A distant rabbit in the horse paddock.



A lovely brilliant yellow field of oilseed rape (HDRd)



Tomorrow will probably be a blogless day as various electrical work is being done here at home, including the installation of air conditioning in the lounge. My lounge faces South and has more glass than wall which is great for free heating from the Sun at colder times of the year but gets more than a bit overpowering in the Summer. I've had a portable Amcor air conditioning unit for a few years which does a great job but the fans are so noisy it drives me up the wall so it was time for a quieter system.

Hedgehog House Deserted

There were a few opportunities to see a little more of the Hedgehog in its house as it often woke to change position and have a good scratch.



By eight in the evening it decided it was time to go walkabout. As I was watching the monitor I saw it leave and dashed through to the kitchen to see where it went. Not a thing in sight. It had taken a route hidden from my view. At my bedtime I saw the Hedgehog at the food dish. After a while it wandered back to the hog house but came out again almost immediately. Looking through last nights captures it revisited the food dish several times but must have found somewhere else to sleep as this morning the house is deserted.



It is disappointing but at least I now know the house will be used. For those readers who may not have seen the photos of the hedgehog house when I first got it here it is.



I ordered it untreated and the first thing to do was to treat the outside of the house. Next the black and white board camera was installed (seen in the bottom two right hand views) along with some bedding - old leaves and hay.

Feeding Tadpoles - Resident Hedgehog

If your tadpoles are in a pond with plenty of algae then they will have lots to eat while they are in their vegetarian stage. Mine are in a small nursery pond as the main pond has fish which would probably eat them while they are small. My little pond has plenty of oxygenating plants and a certain amount of blanket weed which is giving a good base for algae to grow.

As there are a lot of tadpoles in there I had a look round to see what extra might be added to their diet. Suggestions I have seen have ranged from bits of marmite sandwich to lettuce leaves. The leaves need softening which can be done by boiling or freezing them. Another suggestion I have seen is to use flaked fish food or floating pond sticks as long as small amounts are used as any which are uneaten can cause the water to become foul.

I had a look round and found I had a small amount of flakes and sticks left over from previous years so decided to see whether the tadpoles would like them. Just a tiny amount was scattered on the water. When I went back a couple of hours later there was a frenzy of activity especially round the floating sticks which had softened nicely.





It wasn't just the tadpoles which were grateful for a little extra food.



It hadn't taken the pond snails long to find it so the tadpoles were getting some strong competition.

Stop Press - Resident Hedgehog

Something made me check the view from the old black and white camera inside the Hedgehog house I installed last Autumn. To date I had been a little disappointed to see that the bedding material had remained in exactly the same position all that time. This morning was different. I could see the hay and dried leaves had moved. On close examination it was possible to see the spiny back of a Hedgehog moving as it breathed.



Not a brilliant video clip from the old board camera but it is possible to see the movement left of centre. Now I will have to be patient to find out if it is a one off event or whether the Hedgehog makes this its permanent nesting area.