Corona Wildlife Diary: Day Fifty-six

Day Fifty-six

Eight weeks. Eight weeks stuck in this rather uncertain situation. But that's nothing compared to the eight years I've waited for a certain prickly situation to arrive. Last week I was thrilled when, for the first time since we moved here in 2012, we discovered a Hedgehog in the garden.

I've been looking at people's photo's of their garden Hedgehogs on the Sussex Wildlife Trust Nature Table page. I can’t help but smile when I see a Hedgehog. Maybe I’m fondly recalling childhood hedgehog encounters, maybe it’s their association with cheese and pineapple, or simply the fact that they look funny. Either way my smile is always cut short by a sudden realisation that I hadn’t seen one of these animals in my garden.

Last week I put the trail camera out to try and film the Foxes in the neighbour's garden. When I put the SD card in the computer to review the footage I was disappointed to see the camera had only been triggered a few times (usually there's dozens of clips of the active Fox cubs). The first clip had captured this lively Wood Mouse...

...which promptly jumped off but the second clip had me punching the air - a Hedgehog !!

It was great to see a Hedgehog in the neighbourhood, but I would love nothing more than seeing a Hedgehog in my garden, after all, we have spent the past eight years making sure the garden is as Hedgehog-friendly as possible. The problem is there is an ugly, impenetrable wall separating my neighbour's garden and mine. Unless the Hedgehog was planning some daring Steve McQueen style escape it would remain trapped on the other side.

So a few days later I was really excited to see this on our front garden verge...

Some actual Hedgehog poo!...in my actual garden! I was so excited...but there was one other Hedgehog-related wish on my bucket list. 

Over the past eight years I have been running events for Sussex Wildlife Trust and when I have been working with schools, landowners and campsites I have been putting out Hedgehog footprint tunnels. These tunnels are a way of surveying for hedgehogs by capturing their footprints, the evidence that they are around. And for eight years it has never worked. Ever.

I've seen the footprints of cats, rats, voles and mice but never a Hedgehog. All I have ever wanted is for just one time, just once, a Hedgehog would walk through my tunnel and I could see its footprints. Sure, I already had camera footage and some poo but I just wanted a Hedgehog to walk through my tunnel. Is that too much to ask?

Here's how you set up a Hedgehog footprint survey.

The 'tunnel' is a long triangular tube and there is a flat insert - which has two pieces of A4 paper at either end.

On the inside edge of the A4 paper you paint a mixture of charcoal powder and vegetable oil.

Now you need to lure in your Hedgehog. Hedgehogs love hot dogs - those cheap ones you get in a tin.

...and to get them started I find it helps to have a bite myself.

Place a plate of them between the two A4 sheets and the Hedgehog tunnel is ready. Any Hedgehog wandering past will be tempted inside. They'll walk over the ink, have a munch on the hot dogs and, as they leave, they'll leave their inky footprints as evidence.

I placed the tunnel alongside the native hedge we planted in the front garden - near where I saw the Hedghog poo. I was so certain that this would work that I even set up a trail camera to capture the momentous moment a Hedgehog entered the tunnel.

Next morning I leapt out of bed and was out in the garden in my dressing gown - but my heart sank when I could see the hot dogs were still intact and the A4 sheets were un-inked.

But when I reviewed the trail camera footage I sat open mouthed.

There had been a hog! The cheeky beggar had ran straight past the tunnel. 

Play that clip again and turn the volume up. You can actually hear its little footsteps as it scampers past and I'm sure, pretty darn sure, that I can hear it sniggering too.

I picked up the tunnel and put it out of the way for the time being under the willow in the back garden.

When I sat down this morning to write today's diary I remembered I hadn't tidied it up properly so I went back out to dismantle it. And that's when I saw...

Hedgehog footprints! Yes! After eight years of trying.

(those smaller dots on the paper are the footprints of mice and voles)

I'm really pleased, because we've added some features to the back garden to make it a great habitat to welcome our spiky friends. I've planted a native hedge, put in a compost heap, made some gaps in the fences for access and let a part of the garden grow wild. And there are plenty of slugs and insects for it to eat too - which probably taste better than those hot dogs.

If you'd like to help your local Hedgehogs - and they really do need your help - my colleague Charlotte Owen has written this great guide to helping Hedgehogs (here)

I'm so excited to know they're out there in my garden. While my future may be uncertain, it's pleasing to know my gardening is providing a better future for my local Hedgehog. What if there is another one somewhere out there too and they start a home in my garden? Wow.

For now I'm just going to stay home, keep an eye on my garden and wait for that second spike to arrive.