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Hedgehogs


scouser
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nearly April don't forget, they've got to be up and about finding food and mates.

How many did you see? As shooting egg says good to see them

There was a bloke on this morning the other week with phil and Holly, he had a book to flog about predicting the weather, he was on last year apparently and nailed it, any way he said spring was going to be a month late this year.

 

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Brilliant.  My wife went to a village gardening club meeting a week or two ago where a lady came with two hedgehogs which she had managed to bring back to health at her hedgehog sanctuary. They where about to be released in the wild and my wife asked if they coild go in our wood. The lady just said "Badgers??" and my wife said we do have them throught the wood.

"Wouldn't last 24hrs" was the reply.  Is that what they call the 'Elephant in the room' when these bunny huggers discuss the fact there are few about.

Have not seen one in the wild for over 30yrs.

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Nice to see the hedgehogs.  I haven't seen one yet this year. 

The problem as I understand it is that badgers and hedgehogs have existed side by side for years; however, there is a balance to be maintained since they compete for the same food source (worms, slugs, invertebrates etc.).  That balance has altered (very much in the badgers favour) over the last 25 years.  Badgers were first protected on 1973, but still allowed landowners some control.  This was progressively added to and was much strengthened in 1992 with the species specific Protection of Badgers (Setts) Act which protected the sett as well as the loose animal.

In recent times badger numbers have grown considerably (for example here 25 years ago you very rarely if ever saw a badger run over, whereas now it is not uncommon to see a run over badger every few miles or so).   Walking the fields there are also now far far more badger 'latrines' which is one of the more commonly visible signs of the badger population.  As they are nocturnal, people don't often see a live one, but they are now very plentiful and the reason so many get run over is that they are having to travel outside their normal woodland homes to find food by pressure of numbers on the limited food supply.

This is doubly bad news for the hedgehogs because (a) - the badgers eat their food source and (b) when the food gets short, the badgers WILL eat hedgehogs (along with ground nesting birds and their eggs).

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2 hours ago, Mice! said:

nearly April don't forget, they've got to be up and about finding food and mates.

How many did you see? As shooting egg says good to see them

There was a bloke on this morning the other week with phil and Holly, he had a book to flog about predicting the weather, he was on last year apparently and nailed it, any way he said spring was going to be a month late this year.

 

Just seen on the internet that another beast from the East is due over Easter.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5843947/uk-weather-forecast-beast-from-east-3-snow-easter/

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6 hours ago, Mice! said:

nearly April don't forget, they've got to be up and about finding food and mates.

How many did you see? As shooting egg says good to see them

There was a bloke on this morning the other week with phil and Holly, he had a book to flog about predicting the weather, he was on last year apparently and nailed it, any way he said spring was going to be a month late this year.

 

About 5 ,  also a lot of snipe, they look like black blobs from a distance with the photon, never got a shot ,but still great to see wildlife 

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5 hours ago, Walker570 said:

Brilliant.  My wife went to a village gardening club meeting a week or two ago where a lady came with two hedgehogs which she had managed to bring back to health at her hedgehog sanctuary. They where about to be released in the wild and my wife asked if they coild go in our wood. The lady just said "Badgers??" and my wife said we do have them throught the wood.

"Wouldn't last 24hrs" was the reply.  Is that what they call the 'Elephant in the room' when these bunny huggers discuss the fact there are few about.

Have not seen one in the wild for over 30yrs.

I have seen a very notable decline in hedgehogs locally over the last 5-6 years.  I would regularly see hedgers of an evening as I took the dogs out for a walk, easily one every other week.  Last year I saw 2 in total.

Two years ago i also saw a live badger here for the first time, in town at that, we never even used to have any badger road kill locally, and now i regularly see dead badgers on the roadside.  Up until 2 years ago I could confidently say that I had never seen a roadkill badger within a 50 mile radius of where I stay.

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concrete fence slabs don't help when they can't move through the gardens plus the increase in traffic, must be loads get ran over.

as for badgers used to see one every few weeks dead on the road driving along the A590.

40 minutes ago, old man said:

We have one here and it seems to be able to switch in and out of hibernation at will, weather milder, out under the birdtable, otherwise not?

Put some dog food out, give the hog s spring boost.

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When I first bought my place 15 years ago we often see the hedgehogs around the garden ( 2acres ) , bordered by fields and good hedgerows it was ideal for them , fast forward 15 years and I’m plagued with badgers , dig the grass up virtually every night ,dig latrines ,  wreck the allotment , dig all around the fruit trees , they are a complete pain in the ask , not seen a hedgehog for three years ..I’m seriously thinking of an electric fence around the place but it’s a very expensive job and I’ve got to remember to switch it on and OFF ..

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