Hi Elless
I don’t think it is a good idea to look in the boxes too much either. In the Summer a nesting Mother could eat or desert her babies if disturbed when they are very young and in the Winter a hog could prematurely be aroused from hibernation which could use up valuable energy.
I agree, I think a hog should be able to get through a 5 inch gap, but I think your suggestion of leaving that for nesting might be better. Hogilos don’t lend themselves easily to being feeding places. Judging by what is happening in some places, you may not need to wait until March. The girls don’t usually return here until a couple of months later. I am always worried about some of the older girls not coming back. Not sure what the hoglet will think of having a lot of company, after having the place to his/her self all winter! That is, hoping that, at least some, of the others return.
Re. putting photos on here, I think they need to be somewhere else on line for you to do that. The only other way is to temporarily change your profile pic. I don’t have photos, etc. anywhere else on line, so can’t put them on here either.
Apologies if you have already signed, but have you seen the information re. The Petition against the A24 trap? It’s a really ghastly thing which can reset itself, so could kill multiple hogs on a single night. I don’t understand what anyone was thinking licensing it for use here in the first place. https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/206274
