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A South East garden |
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Suzy
Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2005 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1447 |
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Posted: 23 Dec 2018 at 10:54pm |
Yes I see it! It's amazing what's out and about in this mild weather.
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Suz
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chubsta
Senior Member Joined: 26 Apr 2013 Location: Folkestone,Kent Status: Offline Points: 430 |
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You may just be able to spot the frog on his way to the pond in mid-December... (doesn't look much like a frog but I can assure you it is there!)
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Suzy
Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2005 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1447 |
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Well done with your hedgehogs! I think mine have gone. Then I found a fresh dropping last week that looked hedgehog like, but I would expect more droppings if they were about. I've not seen any squashed on the road, but there could be other reasons they're not here now. The food goes every night - possibly badgers. I've not totally given up on them yet though...
I too have young frogs hopping about the garden, so hope all my mothering of the tadpoles came to something!
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Suz
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chubsta
Senior Member Joined: 26 Apr 2013 Location: Folkestone,Kent Status: Offline Points: 430 |
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We have finally had some rain which I am sure will have helped the wildlife!
Things have been very slow really, although a few new juvenile hogs have turned up some of my regulars have gone missing - I was very worried they had been injured or killed but then one turned up after a few weeks absence and was really fat so I think that someone else nearby may have started feeding them too, I guess the more people that do this the better and we stand a chance of increasing the population even further. A real bonus this morning was that when clearing out duckweed from the pond I managed to scoop up a juvenile newt! I haven't seen any newts for a while as the pond is very overgrown now but I was hoping they had bred and this is the first concrete evidence of that. Plenty of baby frogs hopping around, but also still have plenty of tadpoles which is surprising me, the pond has never looked healthier so I presumed there would be plenty of food for them.
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GemmaJF
Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 Location: Essex Status: Offline Points: 4359 |
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I remember this being covered on Countryfile. The farmer interviewed was convinced the badgers should be culled to increase hedgehog numbers and the ecologist pointed out that the hedgehog decline is because of loss of suitable habitat, due to farming practice. If hedgehogs had more foraging habitat with suitable cover, one would assume less likely that badgers would end up predating them and the natural balance between the two species would be restored.
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Liz Heard
Senior Member Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Location: South West Status: Offline Points: 1429 |
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Badgers and hedgehogs have an 'asymmetric intraguild predatory relationship' which basically means they are competitors for the same food resources with badgers also preying upon hedgehogs (unlike a symmetric intraguild predatory relationship where both rival species also prey upon each other). The two species evolved together and so in the past this didn't matter, but since hedgehog numbers have already declined so much owing to changes in farming practices, increased road-building, pesticide usage and habitat loss/splintering, badger predation has become more of a problem in recent times. Particularly in areas of medium to high badger density.
However, the 3rd Badger Survey of England and Wales (BSEW) which took place over two winters (2012-13 and 2013-14) showed that despite many a farmer's claim of ongoing population explosions, although they have moved into a few new areas in central England, badger numbers are now largely at carrying capacity. Edited by Liz Heard - 30 Jun 2018 at 1:51pm |
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Suzy
Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2005 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1447 |
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How wonderful to have so many hedgehogs! It must be very safe for them in your garden/their territory.
I've not seen mine for several weeks, which isn't something in itself to worry about, but no droppings about seems to indicate no hedgehog visits. The nightly food is going but it could be a badger. I know badgers eat hedgehogs, but here they have eaten side by side in the past. Maybe this time that's not the case. I don't have a night camera so I don't know what's going on. I keep up the nightly food and bowls and saucer of water. Also well done with the slow worms. If they like it there they will soon reach good numbers.
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Suz
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chubsta
Senior Member Joined: 26 Apr 2013 Location: Folkestone,Kent Status: Offline Points: 430 |
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Things are moving along nicely, summer has definitely arrived and we haven't had any rain in about a month - nice for me but I guess not very nice for the wildlife who must be struggling terribly.
It is a year since I saw my first slow-worm in the garden and the population is booming, I regularly see 4 or 5 when I lift the covers, they certainly seem fat and healthy looking. It is nice to see a baby too, hopefully as the years go on I will get more and more. I have put aside a pretty big area which is covered in hedge clippings, branches and grass clippings, with logs and corrugated metal sheeting too, the slow worms, wood mice and hogs all seem to like it. I still get plenty of hedgehogs each night, at least 7 which I have tagged so can identify easily, and a few that I think are regular but who seem to be more intermittent with their visits, as far as I can tell most of the 'residents' are female so I guess they don't range as much. A couple of the females are visiting the feeder up to 5 or 6 times a night so I guess they have hoglets nearby, fortunately I haven't seen any at all so the mums must be doing a good job - the availability of water and food must give them a good chance of raising their young safely. It can get pretty chaotic in the feeder sometimes as certain hogs will only eat from a particular bowl so there is a lot of bouncing around and snorting going on each evening, but on the grass it is quite peaceful... Edited by chubsta - 30 Jun 2018 at 10:28am |
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Tom Omlette
Senior Member Joined: 07 Nov 2013 Location: Stoke on Trent Status: Offline Points: 449 |
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they are females although slowworms give birth to live young. they look in lovely condition. how awesome to have them in your garden!
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Liz Heard
Senior Member Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Location: South West Status: Offline Points: 1429 |
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Ah yeah - it's False Puffball. I've read these are considered a delicacy in some countries - don't fancy it much myself tho'.
Well done with the slow worms. Beauties! |
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