Hi Nic
I last saw the female hog on 19th September but the male hog has been following a similar routine every night since albeit once the female stopped coming he disappeared on his travels for much longer typically 3-4 hours away from the garden.
The male hog has been waking up a bit earlier with the days getting shorter around 7.30/7.45pm which was getting a bit tricky as this is close to the time I get back from work so first job was put hog food out (I don’t like to leave it out all day in case it attracts unwanted visitors) and the hog was out minutes after – very fine timing!
This routine has continued the hog waking up 7.30/7.45pm, eating the food on offer, going off for 3-4 hours and arriving back around 11.30/midnight (yes I have actually been staying up late to watch the hog!).
This continued until 4th October – the hog woke up, had his food, then went off as normal but I didn’t see him come back but didn’t think too much of it at the time. However I have had no shows the last two nights and he is no longer resident in the hog house,
After almost 6 weeks living in the hog house, although not hibernating, its a bit worrying that he has now gone absent however hopefully he is ok and nothing untoward has happened to him.
I did come up with a theory that maybe he was just living in the hog house to benefit from the food on offer to fatten up for hibernation as being close by meant no other hogs could snuffle it up before him. However for hibernation it was always on the cards that he would move on when the time is right to what will be his actual hibernation spot.
Whatever the reasons this could well be the last time I see a hog this year which is quite a bit earlier than last year when the last sighting I recorded was 11th November.
Anyway roll on spring and hopefully the hogs will return.
