Hi Annie
Glad to hear your friend’s dog is doing a bit better. Poor chap – not fair for him to have that when he has had such a difficult life. Sounds a lovely dog. Hope he pulls through all right.
Naughty Digger had me really worried. She disappeared for about 4 days. Very unlike her, but she has been here the last two. The first of the 2, she was pestered relentlessly by one of the young chaps and left in disgust – chased by him. Last night she arrived first. He appeared, but this time decided to share a bowl with her instead and then disappeared fairly quickly and left her in peace. Perhaps she gave him a telling off after they left the night before! The problem is, she seems to be the only female left around. For a long time previously there have always been about 5. That’s a heavy weight for poor Digger to carry on her shoulders.
I agree with you about the mealworm thing. It could wipe a population out, because hogs fed large amounts of mealworms are not so likely to survive hibernation. They don’t provide sufficient nutrition to put on the two types of fat they need. It isn’t only Metabolic Bone Disease, though that is bad enough in itself. Seems a bit strange, a rescue place feeding them mealworms ‘on display’, but was that before the knowledge about them became more widespread?
Sorry to hear about the building work near you. It must be horrid when you were so near the countryside, not to be. And why is it always ‘executive’ houses. They keep saying we need more houses for the youngsters, but most of them need starter homes, not ‘executive’ ones. And I hope the builders are including hog holes in all their new fencing, so there’s not so much need for the hogs to go on the roads.
Have you spotted that Pam Ayres hedgehog poem book ‘The Last Hedgehog’ is out now? BHPS are selling it and some of the proceeds go to them as well.
I know I keep saying it, but I hope you get some hogs visiting soon. As a consolation for the decline in hog numbers here, for the first time since I’ve been here, there is a friendly robin. A bit disconcerting (for fear of hitting it by mistake) when you are digging with a trowel and the little robin suddenly appears inches away, but a lovely little thing. Not sure if it’s the male or female that’s friendly, but the male sings away on my tree in the evening and seems to have an amazing repertoire! That is, when the blackbird hasn’t got there first!
