Hedgehog, Pontrobert

This little guy caught my eye this morning as he was still out at 7:30am and didn't curl up on my approach!

The nights are so short now and with still so little rain, natural food is not very abundant, that our nocturnal Hedgehogs are struggling to find enough food.

You can help your Hedgehogs at this tough time in a number of ways, but a quick fix would be to provide some food for them. Vine House Farm do an excellent Hedgehog Food which my Hedgehogs love and it also doesn't attract the local moggies.

For more ideas on how to help Hedgehogs, or to find out how you can become a local Hedgehog Champion, check out Hedgehog Street. If you want to help trial a new survey method for these wonderful creatures, then the Mammal Society would love to hear from you!

Hogs don't disappoint

'Noisy' enjoying his food

Just spent a fabulous hour and a half having close encounters of the prickly kind! My back garden truely is the best place to watch Hedgehogs.

Lying only three feet away from the ground feeder, I enjoyed priviledged views of no fewer than five Hedgehogs as they made their way over (more or less) one by one. Each one continued to enjoy the feast whilst I snapped away with my camera and their little personalities shone through.

The first was what Cesar Millan would call 'calm, submissive', walking purposely over to the feeder to calmly enjoy its contents. Suddenly a very bold individual appeared and 'Calm' made a sharp exit! 'Bold' happily ate its fill for three minutes before heading into the night. Barely five minutes later and I was joined by a more cautious hog who initially paused, before heading fully into the light to enjoy the food reward.

'Cautious' exercises discretion when 'Noisy' shows up

It was only three minutes before 'Noisy' appeared (so called because most of the time I spent with him he was grunting away to himself!) and 'Cautious' immediately gave way to him. 'Noisy' clearly had other things on his mind and he quickly chased after 'Cautious'! Courtship ensued only 10 feet away, but it seems that she was unimpressed and soon gave him the slip, at which point his stomach got the better of him and he returned to the feeder! When he had had enough he walked straight over to me, sniffed my hand and then wandered off, perhaps to try his luck with 'Cautious' again!

Nine minutes now went by before a very nervous hog appeared. This poor thing took quite a while to pluck up the courage to fully come into the light and then flinched every time my camera shutter fired. Sadly, my assumption that it would get used to the sound was flawed and after only a minute on the feeder, it slunk away.

At this point, I decided to call it a night and after a moment enjoying the view of Saturn in the clear sky, I headed inside to review my images!

Fox cub, Cors Dyfi

Dyfi Osprey Project staff report that a fox cub has been seen on the reserve around the hide and the centre on three separate occassions this week, day and night.

Neighbourhood watch for Hedgehogs!

From the PTES - "Hedgehogs are instantly recognisable and much loved creatures. All the more distressing then that a new report (The State of Britain’s’ Hedgehogs) provides definitive evidence that their numbers have declined by at least a quarter in the last 10 years – confirming their status as a conservation priority species. This alarming figure has compelled wildlife charities: the People’s Trust for Endangered Species and the British Hedgehog Preservation Society to join forces to launch Hedgehog Street. This initiative aims to empower whole communities, encouraged by volunteer Hedgehog Champions, to take small steps to improve their neighbourhood for hedgehogs in a bid to create a giant patchwork of hedgehog-friendly areas across the British Isles."

So if you want to help Hedgehogs, click here to find out more.

Mad 'erm May hares

Just to prove that boxing hares can be seen outside of February/March, I saw two going 'at it' this afternoon, just outside the village of Pontrobert - fabulous sight!

Polecat @ New Mills

One seen at 23:30 this evening on the straight to Tregynon.

Bats at Cors Dyfi

Worked my first ever night shift (of any kind!) on Saturday night, Sunday morning, helping to maintain 24 hour suveillance on Monty & Nora, the Dyfi Ospreys. When not keeping my eyes glued to the screens watching Nora's every move whilst she incubated the eggs, I was trying to record the bats on the reserve (Cors Dyfi).

When the rain stopped, about midnight, a walk around the reserve with my Batbox Duet revealed Soprano & Common Pipistrelle, Noctule and even a Daubenton's briefly over the first pool. The real highlight was watching  a Clous of Noctules (yes apparently that is a collective noun for bats; I'd not heard it either!) whizzing around over the reserve at about 5am, foraging for their last snack before bed! Fantastic!!