They’re tricky to see and hide themselves 2"-4" into the twigs. You’ll first notice quite a few leaves dropping (which you may think is just normal leaf drop as is regenerates, which it obviously does too). Also, you may start noticing quite a few wasps getting interested in your hedge/topiary, even though there’s no flowers. They’re looking for caterpillars. You’'ll see a few leaves clumped together with webbing and this is where they are. If you go a few inches into the twigs, you may see quite a mess of brown leaves all surrounded by webbing. This is where the damage can happen on a bigger scale and without you knowing it.
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Can’t remember the last time we saw one in the garden, probably 18 months or more.
This must have been around 8pm this evening, I was out shopping and Mrs AC sent me the pic.
Very hot tonight (as I realised coming out of the supermarket) so I’ve put a few bowls of water out.
Not sure if its hind leg is ok on the left thinking about it, though she said it seemed mobile enough.
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Getting them now regularly . It’s nice to see them of an evening, though I try not to disturb them .
My peak sighting was five in my back yard all at the same time .
One of their big problems is habitat erosion , our local Green Party (trying not to get into politics) tried to get hedgehog highways -without success
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I’m glad we’ve got at least one back.
Typically I’ve got some old internal painted wood which has been stacked for years near the boundary wall, it needs to go to the tip. I’d resisted moving it because I think the hedgehogs have nested there in the past.
I was considering getting rid of it soon as it is quite a mess - I didn’t want to disturb the wildlife in the past but thought it might be ok now, until last night that is.
I should know (having looked it up in the past) but what’s the consensus these days for putting some food out for them - naturally you’d hope they’d get their fill from slugs/snails/small amphibians etc, but not seen many of these this year apart from molluscs I’ve inadvertently trod on and a frog in a half empty compost bag!
I found a tin of ‘hedgehog food’ last night I bought a few years ago in case of emergency as we take any sickly ones to the emergency vets.
To think we were encouraged to put out milk and bread decades ago!
Feed them dried or wet meat-based cat/dog food. No fish-based at all. If you really want them to have the best, put out quality (60% meat) kitten food.
No need for specific hedgehog food. It’s usually rubbish.
A dish of water is a big help.
I wish the myth of them searching for slugs & snails would be wiped out for good. They don’t like them and are a last resort. They’re also full of parasites which causes them no end of problems.
The perfect art to feeding hedgehogs is not to make them reliant on your food, but to just put out enough to supplement their natural diet. Which doesn’t include slugs/snails.
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Rocket, red onion grated parmigiana and a good balsamic make a great salad. Goes beautifully with grilled lamb.
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I have a garden where wild oregano is starting to run rampant, definitely not removing it.
The bees love it.
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Astrantia for my bee garden .I was late planting it , so it was late flowering.
Owing to my knackered knee , it is in a trough so that I did not have to bend down to photograph this . Sadly no bees , but it will look good when I get the photo I planted this for
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We’ve wild parsley too. It’s half as tasteful as the real stuff, bit it’s probably how it should be. I created vegetable soup from our own ‘weeds’ a few weeks ago. It did require additives but was not bad. I’ve also spotted ground elder again. Thinking of creating either a soup or a stew from it with potatoes.
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This is the rear of my garden house. It’s facing south, but catching a lot of shadow too given our neighbours wall:
What covering climbing plant would you use here? Ivy ruled out since it may damage the wall.
We have a climbing Hydrangea, it’s not too over powering in climbing over everything in sight. Easy to maintain.
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Good point, on thinking about it……that is north facing. I googled it and they prefer north or east facing, but more because of soil drying out. We have a couple of bush varieties that need a good drink in hot weather.
That’s not an issue for us. We are at a low point so once it’s rooted well, it should survive then.
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Ours have done well this year, and some of them are still going strong. It would be nice to see a few more insects on them, though.
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Climbing Hydrangea could be a good choice - either Schizophragma or Hydrangea. Choose carefully and be prepared to cut it back when mature, as some can be very large.
Although they cling with suckers, a bit like ivy, they are less aggressive in forcing their way through small cracks.
They should do well in full sun as long as the roots don’t dry out, and they will flower better.
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Two hedgehogs last night when I opened the back door, it was shut quickly as I did not wish to disturb them
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How about a grape vine or fig tree?