I'm pretty sure the huge deluge we had yesterday evening restricted both hedgehogs' movements. The previous evening Stumpy only ate a few of his pellets, probably shopping for Vegan or organic produce. But last night he was mostly in and out of his house for five hours, more frequently than a teenager with a bag of crisps. He cleared his food bowl. As you'll see, the ground was very wet. > Hettie was only out to eat her food between 3-00am and 4.30am, when she called it a night. The ground would probably been a lot wetter around her house, but I made it high enough to ensure there would be no flooding.
Oh mate, your postings also have humour. It is really good— “shopping for vegan”. Dear, oh dear, that gave me belly cramps. But djah know wot, it is your thoughtfulness and precision that I like. I mean, having the foresight to situate the lodgings on a little terp to keep the accommodations dry. That is a technique that has been common here for centuries…but for humans.
Not a lot to report other than the fact that Hettie obviously has been feeling the heat, so she's taken the duvet off her bed..Well, the hedgehog equivalent, she's chucked out some hay.
Riley, it is too bad that you do not have a house for them that has a small camera in the roof. It would be fun to see them while they are indoors, especially if they ever bear young.
With only two cameras it's impossible to check on what these two get up to in between sightings. For example, Hettie triggered the camera fourteen times between midnight and 4.00am last night. Many of the activations were within minutes of each other but there are gaps of more than an hour. It's much the same for Stumpy. They must patrol the garden and possibly go next door. They have left poo on the rose patio, so I know they go on there. There actually is this flattened trail the width of a hedgehog through the phlox at the top end of the rockery, where they must come off the far end of the patio, up to the rocks which were at the head of the old koi pool waterfall, to get to the back of the long border beyond one of the lanterns. Looking no doubt, for some tasty creepy crawlies.
We had a surprise last night. Hettie came right up to the French windows around midnight, walking along the top step. Maybe there might have been a few creepy crawlies hiding around the pots on the steps. The fox got into the enclosure again. Hettie just ignored him and carried on eating her pellets. There was nothing for him so he got no further than this and went. She had another confrontation with Stumpy down at the bottom of the garden. Very similar to previous ones, circling each other whilst making grunting noises. Maybe this is a hedgehog ritual? > I put two water dishes out for Stumpy. He finished one before starting on the other. To use a football term, I think Stumpy may be guilty of "Simulation." In some videos he seems to be limping quite badly, in others, he doesn't limp at all.
There was little activity around Hettie's house last night. Stumpy, was round and about his house from half past eleven to just after midnight. He seems to have got some more white marks on his spines, possible from passing through the doorway in the fence. He had several visits to the water bowls. Then Hello! Hettie turned up at a quarter past midnight on her way to Stumpy's house. Do you think they are co-habiting? No further sightings of either beyond this time. This may be because you can hear the sound on this video of Hettie drinking, from some noisy neighbours having a party in their garden five doors away! The hedgehogs have never complained about the Motown I play on my jukebox in the summer house, but "Believe by Cher" was probably a bit too much for them and there were no more sightings after this.
Imagine they are co-habitating. It would good to see little hedgehog young. Any way you look at it, this thread is delivering on a little seen subject—hedgehog behaviour.
Poem by William Worthless Cute little hedgehog there was little hedgehog as cute as cute can be he lives in my garden beneath my willow tree he comes out at night so he can have a play when the dawn returns he sleeps the day away then at winter time and it begins to snow into his hibernation the little chap will go waiting for the spring and sun begin to soar hedgehog will return and roam around once more.
I'm beginning to think that there may be three hedgehogs, Hettie, Stumpy and Stripe. This would explain several visits to this water bowl at the bottom of the garden. There's two that have no marking on their spines, one of which limps Then there's this one. They were out and about from 9.30pm. Until this one made their last appearance at 4.21 am. Then at 4.26 a fox appeared, had a look at this house, then wandered off up the garden. It looked in good condition. There are three different volume settings on the cameras, the default is the middle one. It amused some that one picked up the noise of people talking, well..shouting occasionally, at the party Saturday night held five gardens away and them singing along with Cher and "Believe," when one hedgehog was having a drink. So I increased the volume on Sunday and it picked up two hedgehogs having a "stand off" one making a lot of noise. But the change made the file too big to e-mail so I'll have to change them back. I can't upload them to YouTube. I've a big problem with my YouTube channel I've had for thirteen years. I can no longer upload anything. Everything I try gets stuck in "drafts." I think it's because I use Firefox Adblocker. It's been like that for a year. YouTube aren't interested in direct contact with anyone, so I can't resolve it. Even a letter to California went unanswered. After all this time, I'm not that bothered. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoAqJlKPJ2vYa5sk3Xqj-_g
Nice big fox. What a thrill seeing those nighttime guests. Odd about you not being able to upload to YouTube. Their unwillingness to help you is a sort of sign of the times I am afraid.
Here's a "clip" from my e-mailed messages. THE HEDGEHOG HERALD Spike Prickles Suburban Affairs reporter. There were reports of heavy after hours drinking, late Tuesday night, lasting from 1.00am until 4.30 a.m. involving at least three offenders. This ant-social behaviour, likely led to this confrontation and scuffle outside a residence, recorded by our camera. No injuries occurred and it ended with what looked like, a “Paddington Bear, hard stare,” before those involved made their separate ways. ________________________________ Unfortunately Windows mail for some reason will no longer let me attach the 15 second camera videos, to e-mails so I'm stuck with still photos. I could try shorting the videos to reduce the file size. Checking the cameras this morning, there was little or no activity around the house next to the patio, except for the fox which "poked his nose in," (to the right of the house) but got no further. I think this house is currently vacant. But there was a lot of activity down at the other house, with two hedgehogs in and out of it for several hours, but no sign of "Stripe" the third hedgehog.
