I’m surprised about the fledgling Nic, I wonder if it was a sickly one, I know our prickly little friends are no angles, but in the hundreds of hours I have spent watching them, I have never yet witnessed them stalking anything other than a large juicy worm. In fact, only the other day after spotting Sven (the Swedish blackbird) dragging a dead hatchling across the patio, I decided to do my own research into whether or not they would show any interest in a feathered dinner. I placed the hatchlings body under some leaves next to their favourite watering hole and set up the camera. Not one hedgehog showed any interest in the free meal and the carcass was still there untouched the following morning. I have also done the same thing with whole hens eggs and a Dunnock’s egg which never hatched, with the same results.
Hettie I don’t know if you have heard the story about Scottish National Heritage ordering the culling of hedgehogs on the Uists in Scotland in 2003 after they were accused of decimating sea bird numbers, but despite more than 1500 either being euthanized or rescued at a cost of £1.3 million, sea bird numbers still continue to decline! Scottish National Heritage finally conceded in 2011 that hedgehogs weren’t the only culprits and that changes in farming practices and increasing flocks of predatory birds were also to blame.
Just like hedgehogs were not the only culprits, the same is true of badgers. I may not like the dining habits of the badger, but the facts speak for themselves; hedgehogs and badgers have lived side by side on this earth for millions of years and it is only in the last thirty or so that hedgehog numbers have rapidly declined, man is without question the number one suspect.
On a lighter note, Sven has successfully raised at least three other chicks who were all spotted together at the water trough this morning. 🙂
