SteamyTea Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 5 minutes ago, AnonymousBosch said: I cannot remember when last I saw a hedgehog in Lancashire Because they get poisoned when they eat Great Crested Newts. I see lots of badgers 'sleeping' on the side of the roads. When I worked in London, my Sales Manager had to pick me up as we were going to the very exciting plastics show at NEC. I told her to drive up the M40 to High Wycombe, wiggle though the town and take the road past Hughenden Manor, turn right by the pub, then left at the end of the road towards Chequers Estate. Eventually you find Aylesbury. She was amazed at the amount of road kill, or supper, as she assumed us swedes called it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willbish Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 7 minutes ago, AnonymousBosch said: Brilliant. I cannot remember when last I saw a hedgehog in Lancashire. Maybe 20 years ago? More? I mainly see squashed ones, three in the last month. In a way it's reassuring to know they are still about, especially as two of the dead were in urban areas of South Bristol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 3 minutes ago, willbish said: were in urban areas of South Bristol Where they cleaning up the food waste in St. Pauls? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gone West Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 9 hours ago, NSS said: Just had our first motion trigger. No hedgehog so not sure what triggered it as I'm pretty sure the dried mealworm I put out were dead. Apparently they shouldn't be fed mealworms for the same reason as not feeding them peanuts. I can't imagine a few mealworms or peanuts in their diet would cause serious problems. Another important requirement for hedgehogs is a place where they can drink. We have a large, 350mm diameter, heavy saucer which the birds and hedgehog use. http://www.hedgehog-rescue.org.uk/feeding.php 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSS Posted August 19, 2019 Author Share Posted August 19, 2019 Seems that Badgers will eat Hedgehogs so I've had to deploy a couple of coppers to guard Hog House. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onoff Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 Can't remember the last time I saw even a squashed hedgehog let alone a real one and we're very rural. Badgers and foxes are a daily sight though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSS Posted August 19, 2019 Author Share Posted August 19, 2019 We're definitely not rural. The boundary of our plot (effectively a back garden plot) is bordered by a total of 8 other detached properties. Nearest 'green space' is a graveyard about 200m away. We also get foxes, though not seen any in the back garden for a while, and knew we had hedgehogs visiting but the badger was a real shock - not least because Mrs NSS woke me screaming "BADGER, WE'VE GOT A BADGER" at 1.15am this morning! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 7 minutes ago, NSS said: We're definitely not rural. The boundary of our plot (effectively a back garden plot) is bordered by a total of 8 other detached properties. Nearest 'green space' is a graveyard about 200m away. We also get foxes, though not seen any in the back garden for a while, and knew we had hedgehogs visiting but the badger was a real shock - not least because Mrs NSS woke me screaming "BADGER, WE'VE GOT A BADGER" at 1.15am this morning! Sort of the antithesis of our discovery that we had a visiting otter. In our case, I was puzzled by piles of poo in the garden, mentioned it to the chap that was doing our hard landscaping, who promptly picked the poo up, crumbled it between his fingers, smelt it and pronounced calmly that it was otter spraint. As I was holding two mugs of tea at the time I declined his offer to have a smell of the stuff... 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpd Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 No chance of hedgehogs where I live unless they learn to swim.... plenty of otters, they used to come into the garden but stopped when I moved in as we have dogs. Visitors from the sky are quite exciting with a golden eagle about 70 meters above the house two days ago and two peregrine falcons looking for lunch today. Tawny and barn owls out most nights and a regular fly by from sea eagles looking for dead sheep. I am about as rural as you could imagine...... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSS Posted August 19, 2019 Author Share Posted August 19, 2019 3 minutes ago, Cpd said: No chance of hedgehogs where I live unless they learn to swim.... plenty of otters, they used to come into the garden but stopped when I moved in as we have dogs. Visitors from the sky are quite exciting with a golden eagle about 70 meters above the house two days ago and two peregrine falcons looking for lunch today. Tawny and barn owls out most nights and a regular fly by from sea eagles looking for dead sheep. I am about as rural as you could imagine...... Mrs NSS is asking if she can come and visit, please ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onoff Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 Current, slightly unusual visitors are the buzzards for the last few years. Sonetimes one, sometimes 3. I must be used to them now as this year I haven't looked up every time I hear them. They are HUGE and ride the valley thermals I guess. What I cannot get used to is the parakeets that have finally reached us in the last couple of years. The noise they make is totally alien to me. The sparrowhawks continue to take their toll on the wood pigeons. I'd rather they thinned the parakeets out tbh! Various other owls and birds of prey. Haven't had the cockchafers bouncing off the windows at night yet. We'll have 2 or 3 badgers at a time. Used to stand on the patio with my lad in my arms and scatter peanuts which they would eat at my feet. Foxes...I've had 7 within 10-20' of me some years back whilst I stood holding my daughter in my arms. Got it on video somewhere... I'd love an otter though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSS Posted August 22, 2019 Author Share Posted August 22, 2019 Hogwatch update: Night 5 and a regular pattern is emerging as our prickly friend has arrived each night sometime between 10.40pm and 11.50pm, and then passes back in the opposite direction between 4am and 4.50am. Last night it ventured inside the house for the first time (lured by a few mealworm). No sign of the badger since the first night. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gone West Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 9 hours ago, NSS said: Hogwatch update: Night 5 and a regular pattern is emerging as our prickly friend has arrived each night sometime between 10.40pm and 11.50pm, and then passes back in the opposite direction between 4am and 4.50am. Last night it ventured inside the house for the first time (lured by a few mealworm). No sign of the badger since the first night. In June the hedgehogs turned up before it got dark and we sat outside and watched them. As you say they seem to a have a routine. Ours trundle round the garden have something to eat and drink and then disappear into the verge on the other side of the lane. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 Interesting that others have spotted a regular pattern to hedgehog activities. We have one that triggers the wildlife camera by wandering across the lawn every evening at around 11pm, then wanders back about 2 hours later. Unfortunately the camera usually only gets a glimpse of it in the distance. There's some evidence that it uses the path around the back of the house (droppings) so I'm guessing it may come in through the hedge between us and our neighbour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gone West Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 On 17/08/2019 at 20:36, NSS said: ... for our visiting hedgehogs ? A week ago or so I finally made an abode for our hedgehog. I made it a similar design to yours but used old wooden gravel boards. A hedgehog went into it the first night to investigate and last night spent an hour or so taking dried leaves in. At 6.23 this morning it went in and hasn't come out yet so I guess it's content. I'll put the camera out early this evening to see what time it comes out. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 Spookily we commented that we have not seen hedgehogs round here (probably all drowned!) but last night found one scuttling along the roadside when I walked the dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney12 Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 (edited) On 18/08/2019 at 20:29, ProDave said: We need to know the cost per square metre of this new house. the distinct lack of windows should keep the passive house warriors happy ? Airtightness might be an issue though. Edited November 5, 2019 by Barney12 Typo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSS Posted November 8, 2019 Author Share Posted November 8, 2019 Still adding insulation ? Cabin_11_08_2019 3_29_46am.mp4 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dreadnaught Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 13 minutes ago, NSS said: Still adding insulation ? Next we'll see a roll of airtightness tape in his mouth … 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gone West Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 7 hours ago, NSS said: Still adding insulation ? We filled our hedgehog home with hay but he still took in mouthfulls of leaves. They're never happy unless they can tweak things a bit, must be catching. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSS Posted November 8, 2019 Author Share Posted November 8, 2019 51 minutes ago, PeterStarck said: We filled our hedgehog home with hay but he still took in mouthfulls of leaves. They're never happy unless they can tweak things a bit, must be catching. We did the same Peter. He/she has been sleeping in the house for several weeks, after initially adding leaves to the hay we'd provided. Last night we had a our first frost of the year and for ten minutes (just before 3.30am) he was in and out every 30 seconds or so with mouthfuls of leaves. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney12 Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 7 minutes ago, NSS said: We did the same Peter. He/she has been sleeping in the house for several weeks, after initially adding leaves to the hay we'd provided. Last night we had a our first frost of the year and for ten minutes (just before 3.30am) he was in and out every 30 seconds or so with mouthfuls of leaves. he’ll be adding “thermal mass” 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSS Posted November 8, 2019 Author Share Posted November 8, 2019 25 minutes ago, Barney12 said: he’ll be adding “thermal mass” I think it was more like thermal moss ? 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delicatedave Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 I have a question, the used to be hogs in our garden so I'm told - we've not long moved in - Bloke next door used to enjoy feeding the baby hogs as the came though the fence on to his lawn. So I would like to encourage them back if possible. The fear I have is rats, we live in open country but with a trainline running along the garden. We have at least one rat as I've seen it on the lawn and some day I could even have a conversation with the bugger at the back door. So would putting these boxes down be homes to the rats too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 I'm pretty sure that rats are just something we have all around us, it's just that most of the time we don't know they are there. Around here the only evidence they are around are the occasional dead one on the roads, or sometimes one scurrying across the road at night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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