Hawky stops by to say hello!

Hi everyone! I know it's been an awful long time since I last posted, but I have been popping on to read a couple of threads and see how everyone is doing. 

My garden certainly has seen some action in the last four months - we now have a house sparrow nest in the back garden which has around seven members in it (do they live as family groups? I assume so! hehe) and they had a successful brood. 

Also, during the floods a few weeks ago, Leicestershire was hit with exceptional hail-stones. When it cleared up, I came home from work to find a little hedgehog on my front garden in the sun. His back leg was injured (unusable) and he seemed to be missing an eye or at least it was closed. 

For three days straight he would come up onto our garden at 5'o'clock on the dot (thats when i came home from work) and i'd feed him bugs and give him a drink. I know you shouldnt intervene in certain places, so I fed him and then left him. On the fourth day, someone had picked him up and put him into a wooded area and I haven't seen him since. At first he was a little apprehensive, but once he had eaten a little he began to grow accustomed to me (however, whenever anyone else would approach him he'd get very defensive)

If anyone could tell me if he's a young hedgehog or why he was behaving this way I'd very much appreciate it !
We already knew we had hedgehogs around the house, but my mum has only ever seen a large one at night, she had never seen this one before. We thought the hailstorm could have moved and injured him.  

Hope you're all well, finally summer holidays for me so I can take a break from studying and work.

Hawky. 

Hi Hawky good to hear from you again.

The bad weather will have caused havoc on a lot of wildlife, if you see it again you could always consider taking it to a wildlife hospital if you have one local.

If you have Hedgehogs in your garden and you want to help them you could always try a Hog feeding station.

All you need is a large plastic box ( i use a blue recycle box) turned upside down and a 5" square hole cut in one end, i put a tray of crushed peanuts and a tray of kitten biscuits in it and i get upto three hogs most nights.

Hi doggie :)

I did look around for a 'local' one but there wasnt any very close and I can't drive yet unfortunately (will pick up lessons soon, just trying to raise the cash first!)

I invested in a little bowl and some food to put in it (i now have two separate mini-buckets of bugs, one for the birds and one for hedgies!)

Luckily for the 'hogs we have lots of frogs around here - we've heard them crunching and munching away on them during the night! yikes.

Lol they sometimes wake me up in the early hours making a snuffling noise as they are eating, i had to go out the other evening when three got in one feeding box and started fighting, they were making a proper racket.

Hi Hawky, hope any exams you have had went well. I know you shouldn't intervene but there 2 things that concern me  about this little chap so should he appear it's worth getting hold of St Tiggywinkles and they can advise.  The damaged hindleg means he can't scratch properly to dislodge ticks and flies and hogs can get flystrike very quickly, it could also mean that the curl reflex is affected so he cannot curl effectivly as a defense and a dog or fox pawing at him could inflict serious damage.  The eye is also a worry especially flies causing damage.  So if the curl reflex is poor or non-existant, the hog is wheezy, flat out in daylight, not eating well it needs outside help.  Nursing mothers will sometimes come out in the day but they usually look busy.  Towards autumn/winter hogs need to be over 450g to

'hibernate' successfully.  If your little chap turns up again or you have another hog in trouble this link might help http://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/carers.htm

Caroline in Jersey

@doggie - they may look cute and cuddly but they are vicious hunters on their own level lol :) did you see his teeth in the video?

@germain - Hi there caroline, thanks very much for that link, ive saved it into my bookmarks. It's a shame I didnt know that site before - I didnt there there was any places that did hedgehog rescues. The reason we helped was because he quite injured and out of it, but he walked off pretty fine the last time I saw him, he was eating happily and drinking so he's got a fight in him! Thanks again for the link and information :)

Hi Hawky It's lovely to hear you have a Sparrows nest. Hope you enjoy your hols. x

Hi Hawky yep they have sharp teeth alright they can go through a pile of peanuts in no time, just put two trays of nuts and two of biscuits out for mine