Hedgehogs

[Lumpy]

Please have a read and remember our spiky friends

[jackarmy]

But should you accidentally catch one, make hay

Roast hedgehog and nettle pud - a slap-up feast for ancient Britons | UK news | The Guardian

[Nicos]

^^^^^ awwwww ...

[greenishfing]

I think hedgehogs are sweet and often see them late at night but I'm sure in the '1960s I saw a TV programme where somebody wrapped one in a thick later of mud and baked it on a campfire. Then they cracked the baked mudball open and the spikes came away with the mud. The things they showed to children n the "Good Old Days"

[lolie]

Please have a read and remember our spiky friends

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We don't have hedgehogs here so a genuine question.

Doesn't the sound of garden tools and the presence of humans close by make them retreat from the sound (and therefore to relative safety)?

[Bigmallly]

Hedgehogs hibernate over winter but even if they are awake, they are not the fastest animal on the planet.

[veggiechicken]

Hedgehogs are mostly nocturnal and would probably be asleep while gardeners are active, strimming and mowing.
I haven't seen one for years, sadly.

[muddled]

They also have a tendency to roll up in a ball instead of run when they're frightened...

[Lumpy]

VC maybe you have not seen one because Jack is having a go at cooking them all.

Our next door but one neighbour feeds a hog with dog food every night so to encourage the little critter into our garden I got the OH to cut hog holes in the fencing so it can hopefully have a munch on my slugs and snails.

When we lived in Norfolk there was nothing more satisfying than sitting in the garden at night and hearing the crunching sounds of snails being troffed.

[cariann88]

I've never ever seen a hedgehog.....Only pictures

[chrisdb]

They also have a tendency to roll up in a ball instead of run when they're frightened...

I have read that thanks to natural selection and busy roads hedgehogs are getting more likely over time to run instead of curl up. Curling up into a ball doesn't help you much if a few tons of car then rolls over your head. I wonder if this affects urban hedgehogs more than rural ones.

In my previous houses I never used to see any, but I've seen hedgehogs the last couple of winters in the new house. My house sits in the middle of the town but there are a number of large gardens and overgrown ex-allotments nearby and lots of porous boundaries / hedges. I found one at the bottom of a pile of hedge trimmings I'd only put there the day before, and another decided that my car would make a good shelter for the night. Neither was harmed, but both were a bit shocked at their shelter suddenly relocating from over their heads.

[Lumpy]

I was also sent this which gives alot more Hedgehog info...................

[Nannysally99]

When we first moved to this house, some 35 years ago, we had hedgehogs in our garden.
In fact we also had frogs, slow worms, house martins and lots of bird varieties.
All gone now. My garden hasn't changed much, it's the surrounding ones I'm afraid.

[Scarlet]

I know we have hedgehogs but we rarely see them. On warm sunny evenings when we are sat outside enjoying a wine after dark we can hear them rummaging around in the bushes, occasionally I will investigate but I try my best to leave them alone.

[Compo72]

3 hogs back here after winter

Pleased to report that we have one large hedgehog and a separate pair hedgehogs currently in the garden
Create the habitat and they will come , remember they are nocturnal to see them
It took a webcam to spot them initially !

We have created some hedgehog homes out of logs and bricks , left suitable food out and we have nightly visitors every night