Well, there had been no sightings of little Tippy Toe for a few nights and then last night at 8.45pm, just as I was about to replenish the hoggy rations, who should emerge from the feeding station, but Houdini herself. This secretive little hog who only ever emerges from cover once every last human is safely tucked up in bed, was busy feeding her face during daylight hours! Putting all of the available evidence together; two males in hot pursuit the night before she was packed off to the rehabilitation centre for ‘wild’ hedgehogs, rapidly gaining weight during her stay and now an inexplicable deviation from her nightly routine can only mean one thing…. she has hoglets! I don’t know why I am getting so exited, if her previous behaviour is anything to go by she will have them trained up in the art of avoiding the trail cameras in no time at all, so the chances of getting a glimpse of the prickly little bundles are very slim.
But with more pressing matters to attend to, her usual covert operations were once again picked up on camera as another hog yet again barricaded her exit from the terracotta hedgehog house. How on earth the much larger hog (sporting a freshly painted stripe across its back!) managed to squeeze in there as well is beyond me…
And it’s not just the hedgehogs that have been busy reproducing. The squirrels too have been up to all sorts of naughtiness and have now sent their own offspring to wreak havoc and bore holes through the new squirrel feeder. Despite the feeder and the lawn now in shreds and the bedding plants uprooted, it has been worth every penny just to watch their crazy antics!
