So the hedgehog box as not been occupied for 11 days. However in the last couple of days, hedgehog food has been disappearing. So it may be that she was pregnant but gave birth elsewhere, and is now starting to revisit my area now that the hoglets are big enough to survive for a few hours on their own. Of course the current hot weather may be forcing mother hogs farther from the nest than they would like in search of water.
Of course there are other explanations – she may have been killed (roads or strimmer, for example, but probably not badgers given the urban setting) and the disappearing food may be another hedgehog (although I have never seen more than one hog at a time), or a cat (although my cat turns her nose up at the hedgehog food, thankfully). The food going was enough inducement for me to order a trail cam, in the meantime I have placed a twig over the entrance to the hog-house, although the view from my in-house camera suggests the nest hasn’t been disturbed at all.
