I'm looking for any advice on hedgehogs :)
While we had many porcupines on the farm in South Africa, we never saw any hedgehogs, and these seem to be a whole different ball game. We have one living in the bush next to our glass door onto the garden (backpacking in the UK at present). In the year we've lived here we've seen her outside the bush 3 times - all after 11pm.
We don't have an outside light, and I'm not too keen on blinding the little chap, but it is currently staying light until around 9:30pm. Is there any way I can lure him out safely? I've heard that some people use bread and milk, but believe this is bad for them and swells up inside their stomachs. I'd dearly like to get some nice shots of him, as I probably won't have this opportunity again once we move on.
Another question if you don't mind - I say "him" although it may not be. Certainly there was a largish one last year, and the people in the flat upstairs saw it out of the bush with babies one evening. One of our three sightings was of a large one, exiting from the same bush, 2 weeks ago. However, when I spent some time this afternoon looking (ok, spying) through the branches, I only saw one rather small one sleeping there. Is it likely that the mother would have suddenly left her home with the youngster in it? This was at about 3pm, so it seems unlikely she would have been wondering about on the lawn somewhere.
I took the attached photo 2 weeks ago on a low flash setting. That blade of grass seemed to have something of a sense of humour, and stealth training.
Thanks in advance for any advice on these timid creatures :)
|
