First some good news…..
After a four week absence our resident hedgehog has returned . It’s such a relief to see Bud back again . Recently we have had a few hedgehog casualties on local roads and we feared we had lost him. It’s not unusual for hedgehogs to move around during the summer months so it shouldn’t have been a surprise but all the same it’s great to see him back “home”
And now time for the bad news……
Most of you will know we have had resident hedgehogs here in my garden as well as two young hogs who spent a winter in my dining room. You are also probably aware that the Hedgehog is a Red listed mammal here in the U.K.
Iconic and almost universally loved the hog is now in serious decline. Despite recovering numbers during the lockdown period a recent study has estimated that their may be only 500,000 hedgehogs left in the wild . And once again their biggest problem is us , mankind.
They join a long list of other British mammals , including man species of bats , the Red Squirrel, Harvest Mouse and many more . In fact 45 % of British mammals are now at risk. An astonishing figure .
Click here for the latest information on the Red li
st for U.K. mammalshttps://www.mammal.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/MS_RL20_Britain.pdf?utm_campaign=1496280_British%20Mammals%20Red%20List%20-%2008%2F08%2F2020&utm_medium=email&utm_source=CJ%20Wildlife&dm_i=4K7A,W2JC,35FFY3,3Y76D,1
Nice to read thad Bud is back again. About the bad news, I think it is not only in Britain but everywhere that animals are in serious decline. Main cause is loss of habitat and influence of mankind. With COVID-19, al lot of people go in places where they never went before, sometimes without respect for nature. At least we see this here in Belgium… on the other hand Belgian organisations as “Natuurpunt” tries to do a lot by buying small pieces of land to protect them and after a longer time, to connect them with eachother to create wildlife corridors. So let’s stay positive 😉 Greetings from Antwerp, Rudi.
Hi Rudi, we have the same here with farmers paid to create wildlife corridors. Thanks for reading the blog.
So sad 🙁 Thre are so many animals, birds and insects that soon will disappear from the world becuase of humans
It looks unstoppable unfortunately
Such a cutie
Great shot although the image was unexpected – here in Texas I expected to see a feral hog! Someone caught one last week that weighed 465 lbs. Pandemic pounds??
Thankfully our hogs are not that big..
Thanks for the kind comments
Its so sad that these beautiful creatures are declining still.. I try to encourage my neighbours and my immediate neighbours and I have created gaps along the bottom of our fences to enable them to move more freely between gardens.
Sadly though this year my resident hedgehog who stayed in my hedgehog box for two years running, has not been seen by us this year…
We have seen signs of them near our sheds on the allotment plot.. I leave food and water out… We also see signs of foxes on the plot..
My husband went before 6am two days ago to water and found three young fox cubs frolicking on our plot.. digging holes where the moles hills have been and just playing and having fun.. He said they jumped like Gazelles 🙂 over the netted veggies .. They ran off as soon as they spotted him…
He said it was a joy to watch them and wished he’d got a camera… 🙂
love all your photos and films. 🙂
Thank you
we have release four hogs over the last 2 years into the garden , thankfully we still have one regular visitor , but its not a great ratio 4 to 1. thank you for taking the time to write , we really appreciate it.
My pleasure and I am so pleased I found your blog or you found mine 🙂