Spring wildlife in the garden (hedgehogs and bats)
I popped outside on Thursday night just to fetch something in and was surprised to see that the kids had emptied a great pile of soil onto the grass when they know this is expressly forbidden. After a moment I realised that Bealers and I had been out in the garden long after the kids had gone to bed marvelling at the birdsong, the awesome sunset over the hills etc. and there had been no pile of soil.
I tiptoed closer with my fingers crossed as I thought it might just be a real live hedgehog. It was! A big fat one who was very scared of me. I left him a saucer of milk and a few bits of cheese as I knew it was going to be a cold, frosty. clear-skied night. All of the snacks were gone in the morning.
I remembered reading recently an alarming statistic that the hedgehogs of Britain are dying out at a rate of about a fifth of the population every four years. By 2025, they will be gone. (Guardian, Jan 2006) Poor chap. I’m not sure I’m doing the right thing by feeding him but am going to use logic to work out that if I can feed up our prickly garden visitor then he/she won’t have to spend so much energy or time looking for food for any offspring they may have.
I’ve also briefed Bealers on resisting his savage instincts to burn the bonfire heap without first CHECKING that there is no hedgehog nest/home inside…