Hedgehogs Galore

The news about hedgehogs is rather depressing at the moment. Repeated studies suggest that our favourite wild native mammal is quietly disappearing from our lives. The latest study suggests that they are doing particularly badly in rural areas. It is lazy and ill informed to blame badgers as the survey shows that they too are absent in many of the same areas. Besides, badgers have predated hedgehogs and competed with them for food for thousands of years without putting a dent in the population. It is more likely that modern agricultural practices have produced a barren landscape for our wildlife.

It now behoves those of us who have access to gardens and allotments to do what we can to help hedgehogs. We should avoid poisons such as slug pellets and pesticides; leave a wild patch including log piles and leaves; plant a variety of flowers that attract insects and make access easy so that hedgehogs can forage throughout linked gardens by creating CD sized gaps in fences.

Hedgehogs love to eat beetles and caterpillars so planting native hedges, shrubs and wildflowers will encourage the invertebrates that hedgehogs feed on. Supplemental feeding of hedgehogs is a great help to them, ensuring guaranteed meals and reducing the stress involved in seeking food. Hedgehogs can be fed with wet or dry cat or dog food, or specialist hedgehog food can be purchased. A simple hedgehog feeding station will keep cats and foxes from stealing the food.

There is no evidence that this additional food source prevents hedgehogs from engaging in their normal foraging behaviour.  Here is a series of photographs of a young hedgehog hunting for and finding food on my lawn en route to the feeding station.

I am glad to say that my local hedgehogs have managed to successfully raise at least three hoglets in my garden this year. In addition there have been at least five different adults visiting.

I even had a hedgehog wake up in the middle of the winter snow to visit the feeding station for a snack.

During the heatwave this summer I put out several dishes of water topped up throughout the day and night which was vital for all of our garden wildlife as well as hedgehogs.

It doesn’t take much to make your garden hedgehog friendly and to give them a helping hand so that future generations will not be robbed of the magical pleasure of watching hedgehogs snuffling about.

Redesigned Hedgehog Feeder

A while ago I made a simple hedgehog feeding station out of a plastic storage box. This meant that the local hedgehogs could dine in the warm and dry. It also kept the neighbourhood cats from eating the food before the hedgehogs could. All except for one very slinky tortie.

I experimented with a number of obstacles to thwart this cat.

I decided to make a new hedgehog feeding box with a different design. I used another plastic storage box and the plastic tube that blank DVDs are stored in.

I cut the end off the DVD tube to make a tunnel and cut a hole in the side of the box (my first design had the hole cut in the end). I then wedged the tunnel into the hole so that half of it protruded into the box to give a narrow turning angle once in the box, and the other half protruded outside of the box.

I placed two planters either side of the entrance to the feeding box and put a water dish right in front of the entrance. Hedgehogs can get into the box either by walking right through the water dish, or by going behind the planter and making a sharp right turn into the tunnel with another sharp right turn once inside the box.

So far the feeding box has been used by several different hedgehogs of varying sizes. Leftovers are cleaned up by a robin and a pair of blackbirds in the morning. To date no cat has been recorded inside the box, indeed they no longer even try.

Hedgehogs now need to pile on the weight so that they can successfully hibernate so if you aren’t already feeding hedgehogs in your gardens now is a great time to start. I feed my visitors with Sainsbury cat biscuits, other brands are available. You can feed them wet or dry cat or dog food, or you can buy specialist hedgehog food such as Brambles. Never feed hedgehogs mealworms, peanuts, sultanas, sunflowers, bread or milk.

Fresh water should always be available and don’t forget that hedgehogs need to be able to get into your garden. A CD sized gap in your fence or gate is all that is needed. Talk to your neighbours and try to get as many gardens as possible linked up.

Green Tinged Fingers?

Since taking over garden duties at “Ratz Manor” my tasks have been pretty much confined to hacking back the briars, in scenes reminiscent of Sleeping Beauty. I have purchased a few cheap plants and thrown them into the ground to take their chances. I was also buoyed by my success with my Alpine trough (although I understand that Alpines are almost impossible to kill).

I was admiring a far more competent gardener’s flowers on Twitter and she very kindly posted me some seeds. I decided to reclaim a flower border that the lawn had encroached onto. The principles of “no dig” gardening appealed to me, so I put newspaper down on the grassy bits, soaked it and covered it with some rough garden compost. I then put down a layer of peat free compost.

Spring arrived and I sowed some of the seeds. We had some late frosts and nothing was growing, so I sowed some more. Of course we then had a heatwave and drought, but I diligently watered them every day. I was perhaps a little over excited when some seedlings started to show themselves. I did a little dance when there was an actual flower bud.

I love the colour of the sulphur cosmos.

Cosmos flowers were used to create dye by the inhabitants of America before the Europeans arrived. Indeed they are still being used as a dye now, this website shows you how.

The calendula also flowered and in different varieties. These are members of the daisy family and include marigolds. They are often used to decorate Hindu statues.

Calendula petals are edible and can be used in salads and soups. They are also used as a cheap alternative to saffron and used to colour cheese. They can also be used as a fabric dye.

Calendula is considered to have healing properties and was used to treat wounds during the American Civil War and WWI.

Both the cosmos and the calendula have fulfilled their roles in my garden border by looking attractive and being useful to pollinators such as hoverflies.

If you wish to see these and other flowers being put to much better effect, see Nadine Mitschunas’ wildlife garden blog here.

Thick-legged Flower Beetle

This beetle must have one of the best names in the animal kingdom – the thick-legged flower beetle, Oedemera nobilis.

It is quite apparent why it has been given this moniker, just look at those thighs! It is only the males that have these swollen looking thighs.

The females are rather more mundane.

The larvae grow in hollow plant stems emerging as adults to feed on open structured flowers. In my garden they seem to particularly enjoy the rock roses.

They do seem to prefer hot sunny days, perhaps to show off their iridescent green metallic jackets.

Ashy Mining Bees

The ashy mining bee, Andrena cineraria, is described as being one of the easiest of the solitary bee species to identify. This is how I know one when I see one.

They are black with two ashy grey bands, the males and females are similarly marked, but the females are larger and the males have tufty grey hairs around their face. You can submit a sighting here.

They fly between early April and June. They nest in the ground, sometimes in groups, in lawns and flower beds. They prefer sandy soil and a sunny position.

They feed on a wide variety of blossoms and flowers. In this instance there were four of them feeding on cow parsley. There were also many other bees and hoverflies at the same time, but cow parsley is also a useful food source for butterflies and moths.

Cow parsley, Anthriscus sylvestris, is often found in woodland and verges. It is a member of the carrot family with distinctive white umbels. It has the fancier name of Queen Anne’s Lace, the common name suggest that it is an inferior parsley. The leaves can indeed be used in salads. However, cow parsley is easily confused with hemlock which is deadly. It is also known as Mother-Die as superstition had it that if it was brought into the house it would kill your mother. The hollow stems can be used as pea shooters.

Yet another name used is kecks, and it is using this term that Shakespeare mentions them in “Henry V”. The Duke of Burgundy refers to them in rather disparaging terms:

Wanting the scythe, all uncorrected, rank,
Conceives by idleness and nothing teems
But hateful docks, rough thistles, kecksies, burs,
Losing both beauty and utility.

Being idle myself I have failed to scythe these kecksies, but the various bees and hoverflies have benefited and personally I find this inferior parsley to be a very attractive plant; a froth of white dancing among the greenery.

 

Hints of Things to Come

Following on from “Green Shoots” I have become weary of waiting for the snowdrops to flower, they are being most laggardly.

They have been overtaken by the ornamental quince which is actually producing blooms.The promise of more pink from the cherry plum tree.

The crocuses emerged first from the cracks in the path.

They are now rising up from the lawn like Ray Harryhausen’s skeleton army.

Even the daffodils are threatening to bloom before them.Still in the yellow corner we have the dependable winter jasmine.

The mahonia promises some early nectar for any eager bees.

And in the blue corner we have the periwinkle.

Last, but not forgotten, the first forget-me-not of the year has upturned its face.

As ever, all garden activity is overseen by the ever watchful robin.

Green Shoots

Compared with other parts of the UK my snowdrops are slacking. They are only just starting to poke their green shoots above ground.

The flowering currant might yet burst forth before them.

November Colour

After so many storms there doesn’t seem to be many colourful autumnal leaves left on the trees. However, there is still autumn colour to be found. The smoke tree seems to have managed to retain most of its leaves, sheltered by the conifers.

A snapdragon plant that I bought cheaply from a DIY store on account of it being nearly dead has made a remarkable recovery despite my care and has started to flower.

The last of the cyclamens are blooming on the lawn.

The golden rod has gone to seed and is now more of a silvery rod.

Michaelmas daisies are paying no heed to the religious calendar.

There is always herb Robert to be found.

The purple bee lavender is looking glorious, but watch for lurking spiders when you admire it.

Evening primrose is the best substitute for the missing yellow disc in the sky.

Fox and cubs are a blaze of orange amongst the murk.

And of course we have the usual autumnal suspects of berries …

…and fungi.

Hawkweed Hoverers

In keeping with our tradition of having more plants blooming on the paths than in the borders, the paving cracks are bursting forth with these cheery yellow hawkweed flowers.

Hawkweeds are related to dandelions and are members of the Asteraceae family, genus  hierakion. The name is derived from the Greek word for hawk, hierax, folklore has it that hawks drank the juice of this plant to sharpen their eyesight.  There are many different species of hawkweed and a great deal of variation within them. The only one that I can confidently identify is the orange hawkweed, Pilosella aurantiaca, commonly known as “fox and cubs”. It is a beautiful wildflower that is in the RHS top 400 perfect plants for pollinators.

The delightfully named mouse ear hawkweed was a folk medicine for coughs. The apothecary to James I, John Parkinson, also suggested it as a sedative for horses, ‘Mouseare’ be given to any horse it ‘will cause that he shall not be hurt by the smith that shooeth him.’

On one of the few sunny days that we had this summer I found that the hawkweed was being enjoyed by this little solitary bee. A kind person suggested that it was likely to be of the genus Lasioglossum.

Another hawkweed hoverer was this drone hoverfly, a bee mimic.

As you can see it is doing a fantastic job of collecting and redistributing pollen.

I am not clever enough to tell whether it is Eristalis pertinax or Eristalis tenax.

Tenax has black ankles and pertinax has yellow ankles, so it is all down to the hoverfly’s ankles rather than the bee’s knees.The goldenrod was another bright yellow flower attracting pollinating insects.

 

Sparrowhawk’s Breakfast

I am starting this post with a pretty picture, in the hope that this picture will be the one displayed in the WordPress Reader and my tweet. Once you get past this picture the text and images will take on a more grisly nature.

Back in March I found a pool of blood near the bird table and then noticed the feathers fluttering about on the lawn. 

Closer inspection revealed the body of a pigeon. The aura of plucked feathers indicated that the bird had been killed by a sparrowhawk. Past experience told me that she would be back in the morning to finish her meal, so I positioned my wildlife camera to capture the event.

The poor hen pigeon was in the process of forming an egg when death came mercilessly upon her from above.

The early bird gets an egg for breakfast. The first visitor was a magpie who snatched the egg from the pigeon’s body and flew off with it.

Shortly afterwards the sparrowhawk arrived and proceeded to further pluck and eat her meal. When the pigeon had been reduced in weight she flew off with the remains of the carcass to eat somewhere safer.

It is a female sparrowhawk that visits our garden. She is larger and browner than the male. Traditionally these birds are woodland hunters; highly manoeuvrable, their tactic is to hide in cover and ambush other birds with a brief chase.

Habitat loss, persecution by game keepers and the use of a now banned pesticide saw their numbers crash. Being an apex predator they are susceptible to bioaccumulation, whereby the poisons ingested but not excreted in prey build up; firstly in insects, then the birds that feed on the insects and finally the raptors that feed on those birds. However, they are now recovering and have learnt that our gardens are a useful resource for them.

It seems that the larger females are generally more likely to be found in urban gardens where they take down blackbirds and the larger doves and pigeons, while the smaller males are pursuing song birds in woodlands.

There are some more facts, literature and historical fancies in my previous post Sparrowhawk here. If you wish to watch a video of the sparrowhawk eating her breakfast you can watch it on You Tube here. The end.

Big Butterfly Count 2017

I don’t think that this has been a very good summer for butterflies. After the mini heatwave in June the UK has seen a wet, windy and chilly July to coincide with the Big Butterfly Count. Sadly I have not seen a peacock butterfly here for a few years. 

Most of the butterflies that I spotted this year were very busy flitting about rather than resting for photographs. I did record 1 large white, 1 green veined white, 2 speckled woods, 1 comma, 1 red admiral and 2 holly blues.

The 2016 results showed that butterflies are generally having a tough time and I expect this year to be no better. Butterfly conservation have a web page with information, ideas and links to help you to attract butterflies to your garden, even if you just have a window box. It is also important to think of food plants for their caterpillars.

Evening Primrose

As the name suggests the evening primrose, family Onagraceae, flowers during the evening and throughout the night. The flowers are supposed to last until noon. These particular flowers in my garden look just like evening primrose, but they flower all day and all night. Unless someone can tell me otherwise I shall assume that they are indeed evening primrose, but perhaps a variety that flowers all blooming day!

They are American natives that were introduced to the UK in the 1600s. They are also known as “Sundrop” or “Evening Star”. I believe that all of the plant is edible, but the roots were particularly favoured as a meal. Native Americans also used the leaves to make tea. The seeds are a source of Gamma-Linolenic Acid and the oil from the seeds is used in many herbal preparations.

They are an important food source for moths which feed on the nectar, pollinating the plant in return. During the day the same relationship is courted with bumblebees and other bees.

The pollen is large and connected by stringy viscin threads, made from sap. These web-like pollen clumps can be seen hanging off the legs of bees as they fly off from the flower. You can see what the pollen looks like under an electron microscope here.

Not only is this big blousy plant attractive to look at, beautifully scented and good for attracting pollinators such as bees and moths, but you can also eat it. There are a couple of recipe ideas here.

Grasses

If the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain, what do you get if you sit on the plain? Answer at the end of the post.

So in the interest of botanical curiosity and nothing at all to do with idleness, I didn’t mow the lawn for the month of May and this is what grew. Firstly there was a lot of Ribwort plantain, Plantago lanceolata. The tiny flowers attract small butterflies and moths and in the autumn the seeds provide food for birds. The leaves are used in herbal teas and are said to be good for relieving coughs.

There were a few different types of grass that I have not had time to identify. The long grasses with their attractive seed heads somehow seem evocative of carefree childhood summers. Unless of course you spent a childhood cursed by hayfever. 

Grasses are flowering plants that are wind pollinated. Their pollen is very small so that it can be carried on the wind and also into the respiratory tracts of humans, triggering an immune system response that causes the sufferer flu-like symptoms.

It is thought that there are around 10,000 different species of grass in the world ranging from the turf that we mow on our lawns to the mighty forests of bamboo. Their seeds, known as grains, form the basis of most of the crops that we grow for human and animal consumption.

Answer: A grassy arse! Apologies to my Spanish friends.

Hedgehog B&B – Part Three

Following on from Part One and Part Two, here is the eagerly awaited Part Three! The three hedgehogs had gained weight and the weather had finally settled. It was time to release the hogs. First of all I prepared three igloos, in addition to the one that was already out, so that they would have ready made beds. I placed them in sheltered parts of the garden.

I then gave them a final weigh-in and their final portraits as captives. Daisy-Boy.

Hans.

Hérisson

As night fell, I undid the front panel and raised it to hedgehog height before re-securing it and moving the stones away from one corner. It took a little while for their escape route to be noticed, typically they missed the big gap in the corner and squeezed over some remaining stones. Daisy-Boy was the first to notice and pushed most of his body out. Hans came up behind him and with an unkind punt to the butt Daisy-B was free!

Daisy-B ran straight to a wood pile at the back of the garden. Shortly afterwards there were crunching sounds. It seems he had found some tasty beetles.

Then Daisy-B reappeared on the path as if to say a final goodbye.

He shook his spines and then ran off again to the lilac bush.

Hans was the next one out. He spent a little while wondering why Daisy-B had mysteriously disappeared before it dawned on him.  He squeezed under the panel and then cautiously sniffed around before disappearing under the ivy covered walls, still within the confines of the old greenhouse.

Frankly I got bored waiting for Hérisson and went in for my tea. When I returned a little later she was missing from the pen, but there was that familiar huffing noise. I found her and Hans in the ivy between the pen and the wall.

Later on I found Hans wandering on the path before he disappeared into the wood pile that Daisy-B had located straight away.

In the undergrowth under the lilac bush was Hérisson.

In the wee small hours Hérisson returned to the pen and went to bed in the house, less cosy but now more roomy without the boys. Hans and Daisy-Boy were sleeping in new beds that day. I have put a short film on You Tube here of the three hedgehogs finding their way out of the pen and Hérisson returning to it.

Hérisson continued to return to the pen and sleep in the house every morning for over a week. She seems to have found a new place to stay now though.

Hans was spotted having a huffing contest with the big hog in the shrubbery. I also spotted him trotting along the path on another night.

I did not see Daisy-B for about a week, but then we bumped into each other near the feeding station. The wildlife camera caught Hans and the big hog from the shrubbery going into the pen for food most nights. I had to keep extending the tunnel into the pen to deter cats from breaking in to steal their food. Although by the time the mouse had found a way in, Hans had scoffed most of the food. I have posted a video here of some of their comings and goings.

So here we are, three autumn juveniles who probably would not have survived hibernation are now roaming around wild and free. Hedgehogs face many hazards trying to find enough food and water throughout our fenced off gardens; netting, ponds, strimmers to name just a few. If you want to find out how you can help hedgehogs take a look at the Hedgehog Street website. And please do support your local rescue. I know how time consuming and expensive it has been for me to just provide bed and board for three healthy hedgehogs. Rescues are self-funded and rely on generous donations while they care for sick and injured hedgehogs.

I am very grateful for the advice and support I have had from kind and knowledgable people on Twitter. If you use the hashtag #pricklypals you will find a truly lovely group of people. I would particularly like to thank the following, who all have links to websites or Amazon wishlists so you can find out more and buy a hedgehog in need a little something:

Monique @FunnybunnyQ Amazon Wishlist

Emma @EmmDonald representing Poppy’s Creche

Jaqui @4theloveofhogs Amazon Wishlist

@OgglesHoggyQuiz  Amazon Wishlist

 

May Flowers

Now that we are at the beginning of May I thought I would just quickly post some photos of what has been flowering recently. Starting with the lilac.

The lilac contrasts nicely with the yellow laburnum blossoms.

The Spanish/hybrid bluebells have been posing with broom, tulips and primroses.

More tulips.

Purple bee lavender.

Candytuft (iberis).

The bladder campion is starting to flower.

The cuckoo pint looks interesting.

Greater celandine.

Forget-me-nots and strawberries are flowering all along the path around my alpine trough ….

…which is also doing well.

And the dog violets are still gracing the lawn.

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Blossoming Apples

There is a great deal of blossom on the apple tree this year. However, we are expecting some very cold nights with the possiblity of frost which could damage the nascent fruits. It is also bad news for the bees and other insects; along with the creatures that feed on them.

Delicate blossom
Sits prettily on the tree.
The bee makes it fruit.

Spring Things

So, spring seemed to burst into life before being hit by an icy blast again. Here are some of the things that came out in the sunshine. I will start with the dark purple tulips that I planted.

Red tulips.

Mini tulip.

The comma butterfly posed nicely for me, while an orange tip butterfly thwarted my every effort.

The holly blue came out rather overexposed, but I was just grateful that I got a shot of it.

There were hoverflies, I think this is a Marmalade Hoverfly.

I thought that this was a sort of hoverfly, but it seems it is a sawfly.

I think this is a type of solitary bee.

Pretty sure this is an Ashy Mining Bee.Bee enjoying the last of the flowering currant.

I was rather pleased with this shot of a buff tailed bumblebee in flight. Sometimes I get lucky.Some ladybirds were getting friendly with each other. Unfortunately, as they are non-native harlequins, they aren’t friendly to anything else.

Weeds? I don’t seen any weeds, just pretty flowers that feed our pollinators.

And finally, here is the lilac bush taken by flash at night. It gives off the most lovely scent day and night.

Being a Fly

Who would want to be a fly?
If you could fly you’d be a bee.
Cried the bee-fly, “Not so! And why?
Just leave us bee-flies be.
We have fat fluffy bodies and one set of wings,
And a very long tongue for sticking in things.”

I have blogged about bee-flies before, here. However, to sum up; these are Dark-edged Bee-Flies Bombylius major. If you see some you can record your sightings here.

I had a discussion with a Twitter friend about how they seem to be particularly fond of blue flowers, so of course one decided to be the exception that proves the rule.

Sometimes they just want to sunbathe on a leaf.

 

Bumblebees and Flowers

The start of spring has been a pretty dull and wet affair, but it just takes an occasional bit of sunshine to make the flowers bloom and the bees buzz.

This red-tailed bumblebee, Bombus lapidarius, was sashaying her shimmering red bum in the sunshine.

They are very distinctive and easy to recognise bees. The workers have the same colouring as the queen, black with a red bottom,but are smaller, whereas the males have additional yellow faces and a yellow stripe on their thorax.You can see how fuzzy she is when she poses nicely for a rim-lit photo.

I think the other bumblebee is a queen buff-tailed bumblebee, Bombus terrestris. Confusingly the males and workers have white bottoms.

As you can see the flowering currant is still flowering.

The daffodils finally bloomed.

Despite the rain they kept their heads held high.

The primroses are still going strong.

The dog violets have been joined by white dog violets.

The grape hyacinths, Muscari, are multiplying.

The aubrieta is making its presence known.

The broom (which I had mistaken for a type of gorse!) is developing fuzzy flower buds.

The lilac continues its unstoppable progress.

The lesser celandine is littering the lawn.

The periwinkle is winking out from under the shadows.

The apple is starting to think about blossoming, framed by forsythia.

Herb Robert is in the pink.

Whatever this is is producing pretty white flowers.

My neighbour’s plant that grows over the top of the fence is also providing me with a free supply of white flowers.

I nearly forgot the forget-me-nots.

And finally, the tulips that I planted in the autumn have actually grown and are threatening to flower!

Update: A friend on Twitter has identified my white flowering shrubby thing to be an Amelanchier.

 

My Big Garden Birdwatch Results 2017

As I mentioned in my post #BigGardenBirdwatch 2017, the world’s biggest wildlife survey took place at the weekend in the UK. You can find out more at the RSPB website.

Although we were allowed three days to choose from, the weather Saturday through to Monday was pretty much non-stop rain. This seems to deter a lot of birds from visiting feeders. I was particularly annoyed that the great spotted woodpecker didn’t show up. Other notable absences included long tailed tits, coal tit, dunnock, wren, sparrowhawk, crows and jackdaw; I know they are lurking around somewhere in the garden! Also my chaffinch count was considerably down from a couple of weeks ago.

However, I was highly delighted by the well timed arrival of an old favourite that I have not seen in the garden for many years; the song thrush. This is another British bird that has suffered greatly from habitat loss due to changes in farming. This shows how important our gardens are for birds. I wasn’t able to get a decent photo of it, indeed most of my photos of wet birds on a dark day were terrible!

Song Thrush by en:John Gould, Birds of Great Britain, 1862-73 – Via Wikimedia Commons

The blackbirds put in a good show, as usual.

There was a robin.

Indeed there were two robins.

One of the woodpigeons bumbled along.

Yet again Mrs Fancypants-Squirrel tried to get in on the action, but she was fooling no one.

Later on that night, one of our hedgehogs woke from hibernation for a snack.

Here are my results:

4 sparrows, 2 blue tits, 1 wood pigeon, 2 robins, 1 great tit, 9 blackbirds, 3 collared doves, 2 starlings, 3 chaffinches, 2 black caps, 9 feral/rock pigeons, 2 magpies and a song thrush. The RSPB provided a chart of my top 10.

And compared it to the national average based on results so far.