Hi Nic
It seems so mean you not having hogs after all the activity you’ve had previously, something must have changed in the route to your home to divert them maybe. Both front & back garden feeders here still being used, just crumbs left by morning most days with the occasional night none eaten much the same as all summer. There was fox poo by the feeder recently, they can’t get into it but maybe drink the water & wait hopefully for a hog to come out, hope hogs stay inside til they’re gone in that case.
Yes, social media can do a lot of damage & also some people seem to get it in to their heads to attack someone, they even had a go at Brian May’s Save Me rescue saying the hedgehog advice given was wrong. There’s a lot of good advice on there which makes up for it, even those criticising gave good food advice overall. There’s also a lot of help on there for hogs in trouble, numbers to ring & what to do etc. If anybody gets it wrong they all jump on & repudiate it pretty quickly.
You have kites! Lucky you, didn’t realise you were that far into the country. Plenty of small birds too, that’s lovely to hear. The seed mix I’ve bought is a success, only a few ingredients, sunflower hearts & suet being two of them. Hilariously there’s a small brown seed in there that tends to be discarded but if I brush it onto the peashingle they spend hours pecking them out! Feral pigeons are happy to help still but the little birds get most of it & the pigeons get to clean up any bits that are dropped. Lots of coal tits which is rather nice amongst the other tits, quite a selection of birds lately. Thinking of a peanut feeder for the tits, the last one was years ago & nobody ate them but the tits seem very keen this year.
Your frogs are probably hunkering down somewhere under a pot getting ready to have a kip til Spring has sprung. Haven’t seen a mouse for ages considering they were everywhere in the warm weather.
The dog poo neighbour never uses the garden, it’s just a glorified dog loo. When they moved in she was a puppy & I thought we’d see fun & games with her then little boy & the dog playing but they never did. If he played with his football he screamed at the puppy to leave it alone, sad household for the poor dog. She’s a very quiet & subdued animal & extremely affectionate when I’ve had contact with her. I found her on the street & a also guy brought her another time to me as she escaped twice during lockdown because the side gate blew off, think I should have kept her. Some people shouldn’t have dogs.
You have a determined cat visiting, the one here who’s Nala’s litter mate has given up trying to get in my feeder but sits watching the hogs go in & out.
Stay safe, things are going a bit mad again.
