Hi Annie,
The poor hog seemed none the worse for his adventure. Other than having a blue foot of course – from the antiseptic spray. I put the open ‘hog’ basket out for him just before the time he arrived the night before, thinking he would come almost straight out. Never anticipate what a hog is going to do – he didn’t come out until after 1.00 a.m! I had to stay up because the rat was still about and it would have eaten all the hog’s food. I saw the hog get up and stretch and do some enormous yawns, a couple of times, but then he went and curled up again. He stayed there so long that in the end two bigger boys (at different times) actually went into the basked, biffed him and ate his food. So I had to keep topping it up and he did manage to have quite a good chomp before he left.
Talking about the rat, I had several clips of it on the patio (it is an old patio and there are lots of gaps with grass in them) catching worms. It was pulling great long worms out of the ground. I had never thought of them eating worms, but I suppose they eat just about anything. It was back again last night, at one point climbing up the side of the arch. Where are all the cats when you need them! Sounds like Frank must be doing a good job there, keeping them away.
That is so annoying that your camera is not working properly. It must be so frustrating not being able to get the night’s filming off.
I think there must be a fair amount of ‘dancing’ going on here, too, judging by the flattened plants all over the place! I have lost track of how many different boys I have seen Digger disappearing into the undergrowth with. They do say one litter of hoglets can have more than one Father!
I leave the patio light on during hog watching time and watch them through the window with the binoculars. The hogs don’t seem to mind the light.
I love the description of Frank. I can just picture him. Typical cat pretending everything is completely normal!
Yes, it is extremely dry here too. Really hope we are going to get some of this rain they are talking about. The water butts are almost completely empty and I need the rain water to top the ponds up which the naughty birds keep emptying. I expect the hogs would be quite pleased as well. Frog is still there, all on his own in the tub pond which is sunken. Love the sound of your frog having a shower under the fountain. I forgot about the bees, when mentioning the wildlife in the garden. There are usually quite a few of those and I often catch clips of moths on the night cam. The bunble bees gave their seal of approval a couple of years ago – I had just filled an old wooden box with bits of wood, etc., as a sort of bug hotel, and they made their nest in it. I love the ponds in tubs – one has water boatmen which are quite fun to watch and loads of water snails.
