Despite being fenced right round with tall timber topped brick fences, my backyard isn’t hedgehog-proof. It’s not squirrel-proof (nothing is), it’s not fox-proof, and anything that flies can get into (and out of) it. It’s clearly not rat-proof, and random other cats get into my backyard as well; but it’s the hedgehogs that stumped my stupid humans for longest. They didn’t object to the hedgehogs. On the contrary, F wants to encourage them but couldn’t work out where they were getting in (and out). She hopes they’ll eat all those monster slugs we seem to find all over the garden and in the compost pile. She has built a couple of hedgehog houses and put one under that murderous pyracantha bush. That bush and hedgehogs are well suited to one another – all sharp spiky bits.
I didn’t really care much about hedgehogs one way or the other. ‘You can’t eat ‘em and you can’t sneak up on ‘em’. (You can’t practice sneaking up on anything that doesn’t do scared and watchful. Hedgehogs simply trundle about and just don’t give a ….) They don’t do much that is interesting and they eat my reject food (Mr B throws it out on the lawn if I refuse to eat it) – so they clearly aren’t very choosey.
Hmmmm……maybe they really do eat those horrible slimy slugs….
I didn’t care about hedgehogs until a whole litter of half grown ones invaded my conservatory. I designed, and F built for me, a double glazed conservatory. I chose 2 polycarbonate tunnel house things that F puts over small plants. I like them; warm and I can see out. I had to sit on them for days until F got the message, propped them against a brick wall and put straw inside. It’s great in Spring and Autumn (bit hot in Summer).
However, last Autumn 4 little hedgehogs discovered its attractions. One after another they moved in, gathered all the straw up into some sort of hibernation chamber, and made themselves at home. Hedgehogs in your favourite lounger tend to make challenging bedding and put one (well me anyway) off its comforts and delights. Worse, moving them is no easy task if your staff appear to be on the side of the hedgehogs.
Born late in the Summer, they were too small to survive Winter so a man came and fetched them away. Great.
He said he’d bring them back in the Spring. Not so great.
“Keep them. Take all the reject catfood to feed them on. I’ve gone off hedgehogs.”
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