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.

Monday Mystery

Last week's mystery close up



was quite difficult to work out as there was no indication of size. It was part of a large slotted spoon, useful for lifting cooked food items from a dish or saucepan, without picking up any of the liquid.



The manufacturer didn't give it a special name but Adrian's guess of skimmer appears to be correct. Thanks to all who had a go.

This week I have a close view of ...



what? If you would like to make a guess please leave it in the comments. They will be revealed, with the answer, next Monday.

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.

Quackers

Woke up at 5 a.m.. Looked at the bedroom window and thought it was completely misted up. In fact the overnight fog was so thick I could just make out the murky shape of the hedge on the opposite side of the lane. Fortunately, once the Sun had risen, it soon started to burn off leaving all the cobwebs covered in dew drops:



By midday things had warmed up so I decided to motor across to the market town of Horncastle about 25 miles away. Always a nice journey across the switchback roads over the Lincolnshire Wolds. Having arrived on a non market day the main car park was nearly empty. I paid my £1 for up to two hours stay and set about filming the River Bain which flows through the town. Disappointingly there wasn't much variety in the water fowl.



This is always a popular place for young and old alike to feed the ducks. Most of the video clips were taken hand held and the sound is untouched from the original recordings.

Monday Mystery

Last Monday I showed:



which was part of



a battery operated pepper mill. One which automatically turns on when turned upside down. Congratulations to Kev and Ellen who correctly identified it.

I'm not sure whether anyone will work out what this is part of:



If you would like to make a guess please leave it in the comments which will be revealed, with the answer, next Monday.

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.