Animals in your garden

[Logan]

You can see the ones I've got in my post #737, they came as a pack of five from Dobbies garden centre.

Yes I've seen them thanks.

 

[Sean Regan]

Nothing on the camera last night, other than me as a test at 8.30pm and a wood pigeon at 5.00 am.

As I mentioned earlier, he may not be generating enough heat to trigger the camera. We've three PIR security lights in the garden, one on the side of the tea-house that covers the back fence, one on the corner of the shed that covers the small patio and one on the corner of the garage that covers the main patio and he's not setting any of those off, though I doubt if we'd notice unless either of us were looking out the French or kitchen windows at the time.

Anyway, I've reverted to "plan B" and moved the camera to its new location on the corner of the garage where it can either cover the path or be turned to cover the patio. These cameras are more effective if the subject is walking towards it. So at the moment it's trained down the path.
This was a bit of a pain to fix. The bracket I made from an old strap hinge is fine. The problem was finding a suitable nut and bolt. These cameras are probably made in China, so to US specifications, so the nuts and bolts will be American Fine thread. We've been on Metric since "Ted Heath dropped us in it." So I had a hard job finding something that would fit.

An added problem is that there would be my exterior mains socket I use for the garden vac when I clean the patio, so I had to an install a little bar to wrap the cable round as otherwise I could see me hitting the camera if I yanked on the cable.

But we're "all systems go," now. It's connected to the adapter in the new socket I installed yesterday on the other side of the garage wall.

'arry turned his nose up..... well probably used it to scatter them about, at the "Extra Selected Pro-Biotic Complete Hedgehog Pellet Food," I paid £7 for 500 gr. But he ate all his mix of cat food and mealworms "and washed his face" in his water.

But it told me something, as I applied the well known scientific evaluation, "If it's hungry enough, it'll eat it," so we're obviously providing him enough to eat without the pellets, even if he's not finding much in the garden.

Now here's something new. Hedgehog poo on the drive in front of the step to the kitchen door. It must be another hedgehog as 'arry can't get out of the garden so this one wouldn't be able to get in. "Perhaps it's his mummy looking for him?"

It could probably smell the food as they have a "good nose."
I'll leave some pro-Biotic pellets under the azaleas in the front garden.

 

[Logan]

You can see the ones I've got in my post #737, they came as a pack of five from Dobbies garden centre.

Thanks I'll have a look.

 

[Logan]

Perhaps it's his mummy looking for him?"

No it's another hedgehog, once the mom has gone they don't come back.

 

[Sean Regan]

No it's another hedgehog, once the mom has gone they don't come back.

Sorry, I know that, it's why I put the quote in speech marks.
It's something I do, much the same as if I say, "I'm reliably informed" (a favourite expression of Ian Hislop) when what follows is far from the truth.

 

[Sean Regan]

Last night I waited until 'arry had finished eating (he arrives around 8.45pm) and disappeared, then went out to check that the camera was working by walking past it at around 11.00pm.

I checked his food bowl and saw he hadn't eaten all his dinner. So I added a few meal worms. I checked the SD card this morning, the camera worked fine, but all it picked up apart from me, was a cat at a distance of about 20 yards at three in the morning.
I checked 'arry's feeding station and there appeared to be a bowl missing. He'd come back and eaten the remains of his cat food, plus the meal worms and managed to put his food bowl in his matching water bowl. "Perhaps it was his way of helping with the washing up?"

The meal worms I put out for the "other" hedgehog under the azaleas in the front garden had gone, but it hadn't eaten the pellets.

I've turned the camera round so it's now trained on the patio.

 

[Sean Regan]

No success with the re-positioned camera. All it picked up was a rather wet "Cyril the squirrel," early this morning.


But 'arry did arrive last night and ate his dinner and the "second helping," I'd put next to his "place in the country" (his hedgehog home under the azaleas).
He was a bit later than the previous evening, so maybe he comes down that side of the garden and had stopped off for a snack first.
If he comes out of the azaleas over the little wall next to his feeding ststion, he'd be unlikely to be picked up by the camera.

Or it could be that 'arry's a different genus from others and is in fact, a "stealth hedgehog" and wouldn't even be picked up by radar.

The food I'd put out for the other hedgehog under the azaleas in the front garden had gone too. I'm in two minds about continuing to put that out as it may be having to cross the road in the night to get to it. There's unlikely to be any traffic as this is a very quiet road even in the daytime and it'd been crossing the road anyway, fo me to notice the poo near the kitchen door step.

 

[Logan]

He probably would have crossed anyway.
Ours don't need to cross the road they come from round the back.
They came last night, nearly all the puppy food has gone.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Are you sure he can't get front to back? I have seen pictures of one climbing an eight foot brick wall. He didn't bother climbing down, rolled up into a ball an launched himself, bounced on his prickles.

 

[Sean Regan]

Are you sure he can't get front to back? I have seen pictures of one climbing an eight foot brick wall. He didn't bother climbing down, rolled up into a ball an launched himself, bounced on his prickles.

Love it!

There's no chance of him climbing this. It's eight feet high and he can't get under the door.

 

[Sean Regan]

Despite me re-arranging the pots, there were no sightings of 'arry on the camera. Just "Cyril the squirrel" and a naffin' wood pigeon at 5.30 a.m. At least the cat didn't come this far down the garden. The rain early this morning has freshened up everything.

But we saw 'arry in his feeding station last night and he was there from around 9.30 pm for an hour. He also cleared the pellets in the saucer outside "his place in the country," though I've no idea if he went in. Couldn't see any foot prints in the entrance.
I won't post any more "no news," I'll keep the camera running, but I'll put it back in its original position on the shed.

No visit from the "new" hedgehog, the pellets I left for it last night under the azaleas in the front garden were still there this morning.

 

[Logan]

Here they don't always come and visit because they have so much ground to cover. Or when it's raining, they don't like the rain.

 

[Sean Regan]

Finally!



Some photos!



It's about time!



Hang on!




It wasn't 'arry.


It was a visitor.


at around 5 am.

For a time it was sitting on the scruffy bit of the lawn at the bottom of the garden to the left of the acer.
If it's there regularly, it's probably responsible for the poor condition of the grass.

On the videos it was looking to get over the side fence near the wisteria but gave up and went round the back of the tea-house, it was probably able to scrabble over the fence in the corner. There's the two parts of the old bird bath there so it'd be able to stand on them.


I must say it did look rather scruffy. Nothing like our "Fiona"

and her six "high maintenance" six cubs we had under the tea-house in 2017.

 

[Sean Regan]

Finally!

Some photos and videos of 'arry!

The camera picked him up three times.

He seems to be quite mobile and has put on some weight.

This at half-past ten.

This must have been his after dinner tour at 1.13am as I could see through the windows that he'd cleared his food by midnight.

"Maybe the weight he put on after eating his dinner was enough to trigger the PIR on the back of the shed, when it didn't happen earlier?"

and again at around half past two.

I'm very pleased with the performance of the "Apeman" trail camera for around fifty quid.
I've set it to take a still photo followed by a 13 second video each time it's activated.

The sound is good too. In the videos you can hear the rain drippiong off the shed roof.

No visit from the fox last night.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I reckon that time delay is just enough for him to nip over that wooden fence and polish of his 'second breakfast' in the front garden, that's why he is putting on weight
Mr Fox visits my lawn in broad daylight to get the food put out for birds.
I have a bucket buried next to the greenhouse to collect a bit of water. I thought there was a dead baby bird in it, but when I got close it kicked. It was a toad, and when I looked closer a second, smaller, one. I made them a strip of wood anchored to the ground one end and floating the other to make it easy to get out. The little one was sitting on the wood when I went back, but the big one was trying to hide under it.

 

[Sean Regan]

In past years we've seen a fox sunbathing on our rockery in the middle of the day.

 

[Logan]

@Sean Regan glad that you caught arry on camera and that he's eating well.

 

[Sean Regan]

@Sean Regan glad that you caught arry on camera and that he's eating well.

It is a relief, we wanted him to survive and just give him the best chance of doing so. When he's eaten his dinner and his pellets he must eat some of the bird seed as you can see the undigested small seed grains in his poo!

He wasn't on the camera last night, but the fox was there again, but as before, just a brief visit as he only set the camera off once.

 

[Meadowlark]

Our dog "Crash" making the morning patrol rounds down the onion row:

 

[Logan]

@Sean Regan that's great news.
Don't think ours came round last night, there was only a bit of food gone, that could have been the mouse.