That's good to know about the hedgehog. I'd hate to see them semi-spiky :-) I am always so blown away by the quality of professional nature photography and video. There is one scene from Planet Earth that is beyond belief - a great white shark jumps out of the water and nabs a seal, in super slo-mo. The "sixth extinction" caused by homo sapiens is a great sin against Creation, and I fear with our tendency for war, we will be one of the species included.
Sad to hear the hedgehog population is declining there. We have that problem with a lot of our wildlife in the US. The "horny toad" - e.g. horned lizard, is becoming scarce due to habitat loss and the invasive fire ant, which out-competes the native harvester ants the lizards rely on for food. I didn't know hedgehogs could release their spines! I've seen dogs with muzzles full of porcupine quills and they never seem to learn to leave the critters alone.
Oh, the hedgehogs don't release their spines. I must have misspoken. Porcupines do. Or as I understand it, it's more a matter of the spines easily come off porcupines. They'll stay in you. The spines on a hedgehog can stab you but they stay on the hedgehog.
The UK has lost large proportions of its wildlife. Insects, birds, all sort of creatures and a lot of the native plant life. David Attenborough's latest series Wild Isles goes into what we have and how much we've lost. I don't know whether you can stream it in the States. The photography, especially the night photography, is way beyond anything I've ever seen before.
I relate to the mysterious pests that eat up your seedlings. I can never find the culprits, which likely feed at night. And also the observation that gardens are never finished. I am curious about your hedgehog and would love an entire post about them. They are sold as pets here and seem adorable.
My knowledge about hedgehogs is limited. I've only seen them at night unless they are in distress.
At our previous house, anytime our dog Freya the ever-hopeful found our local hedgehog in the back garden, we knew because she ran in with blood streaming from her mouth. She always thought it would go differently next time. It never did. We'd go out to check on it. Chester would stand at a respectful distance to point out where it was. It was always fine.
That is, until it apparently drank antifreeze. It was out in the neighborhood in daytime when it died. We were very upset.
Hedgehogs are adorable. When afraid, they curl up in a tight ball with only their hard spines facing outward. The spines aren't like porcupine quills. They are more blunt, hard and don't fall out easily. Freya always just got a mouthful of spines. You can touch them gently without getting hurt, but anything harsher is just going to hurt you, as it did her.
Of our current dogs, Zola hasn't met a hedgehog yet. Bertie probably has.
They used to be common. They aren't any more. Most people I know consider it a special occasion if they see one and an honor to have one visit their gardens. I understand we can tempt it to start using the cat door (after I install one) with dried meal worms. If we want to leave food out for it, tinned cat food is recommended. But we have so many slugs in our garden, it won't need us to leave any food out. Our garden is one big buffet.
Considering that we haven't simply tilled it all and are growing veggies in limited spaces, it's pretty good. In addition to the radishes, we've had spinach off the fence for an omelette. It will be a little longer before we get to eat much more from the garden but it's coming along!
That's good to know about the hedgehog. I'd hate to see them semi-spiky :-) I am always so blown away by the quality of professional nature photography and video. There is one scene from Planet Earth that is beyond belief - a great white shark jumps out of the water and nabs a seal, in super slo-mo. The "sixth extinction" caused by homo sapiens is a great sin against Creation, and I fear with our tendency for war, we will be one of the species included.
That last thought is one I share. I don't talk about it much. Most people turn away from it.
Sad to hear the hedgehog population is declining there. We have that problem with a lot of our wildlife in the US. The "horny toad" - e.g. horned lizard, is becoming scarce due to habitat loss and the invasive fire ant, which out-competes the native harvester ants the lizards rely on for food. I didn't know hedgehogs could release their spines! I've seen dogs with muzzles full of porcupine quills and they never seem to learn to leave the critters alone.
Oh, the hedgehogs don't release their spines. I must have misspoken. Porcupines do. Or as I understand it, it's more a matter of the spines easily come off porcupines. They'll stay in you. The spines on a hedgehog can stab you but they stay on the hedgehog.
The UK has lost large proportions of its wildlife. Insects, birds, all sort of creatures and a lot of the native plant life. David Attenborough's latest series Wild Isles goes into what we have and how much we've lost. I don't know whether you can stream it in the States. The photography, especially the night photography, is way beyond anything I've ever seen before.
I relate to the mysterious pests that eat up your seedlings. I can never find the culprits, which likely feed at night. And also the observation that gardens are never finished. I am curious about your hedgehog and would love an entire post about them. They are sold as pets here and seem adorable.
My knowledge about hedgehogs is limited. I've only seen them at night unless they are in distress.
At our previous house, anytime our dog Freya the ever-hopeful found our local hedgehog in the back garden, we knew because she ran in with blood streaming from her mouth. She always thought it would go differently next time. It never did. We'd go out to check on it. Chester would stand at a respectful distance to point out where it was. It was always fine.
That is, until it apparently drank antifreeze. It was out in the neighborhood in daytime when it died. We were very upset.
Hedgehogs are adorable. When afraid, they curl up in a tight ball with only their hard spines facing outward. The spines aren't like porcupine quills. They are more blunt, hard and don't fall out easily. Freya always just got a mouthful of spines. You can touch them gently without getting hurt, but anything harsher is just going to hurt you, as it did her.
Of our current dogs, Zola hasn't met a hedgehog yet. Bertie probably has.
They used to be common. They aren't any more. Most people I know consider it a special occasion if they see one and an honor to have one visit their gardens. I understand we can tempt it to start using the cat door (after I install one) with dried meal worms. If we want to leave food out for it, tinned cat food is recommended. But we have so many slugs in our garden, it won't need us to leave any food out. Our garden is one big buffet.
You have an amazing amount of food in your garden. I love it!
Considering that we haven't simply tilled it all and are growing veggies in limited spaces, it's pretty good. In addition to the radishes, we've had spinach off the fence for an omelette. It will be a little longer before we get to eat much more from the garden but it's coming along!