WHERE IS SPIKEY?

It’s been two weeks since we set ‘Spikey’ (Max), the male hedgehog, free in the garden and sightings of him have been rare. I say rare, but what I mean is we’ve not seen him at all.

When he was release he scuttled into the undergrowth of next door’s garden and has not been sighted since.

Neighbours have been recruited to the on ‘hedgehog watch’, but so far the search has been fruitless.

I have been leaving cat food and water out for him late at night, and while the food has gone in the morning, I have no way of knowing if it’s Spikey, one of the resident cats or another wild animal has eaten it.

I just hope he’s ok and enjoying his new surroundings. If he is seen in the near future and regularly, I’ll be looking to rehome a female and set up a new colony.

The house sparrows are doing very well and both nests have just had their second brood of the year fledge.

I’m still not getting great images through the video cameras, but I’m probably going to leave them alone this year so as many house sparrows can fledge to boost the local population.

They may be noisy chirpy little birds, but they are part of the wildlife fabric of this country and it’s lovely to hear them in the morning as part of the dawn chorus.

The flora is doing quite well too, with sunflowers, broad beans, poppies and runner beans all growing taller by the day. All but the sunflowers are flowering and providing the bees and other insects with differing types of pollen.

I’m still seeing the odd small plant being eaten by snails and slugs, but most are escaping their hungry mouths.

Next week we’re meant to be in for as heatwave, which will be good for sun worshippers and the wildlife that needs sun, but everyone must be mindful that to flourish all wildlife needs access to fresh water.

So fill up that garden drinking bath or place small low level containers out at dawn or dusk and help the wildlife flourish in your patch.

SECOND BROODS FOR BOTH SPARROW FAMILIES

Both house sparrow families are taking this year’s brooding competition very seriously, as they look to fledge their second broods of the season.

The family in the blue tit nest box are a few days behind their opponents in the sparrow nest box, but they could catch up if the next set of eggs (yes I’m expecting more), are laid as soon as this brood fledges.

And when these two broods do fledge, they’ll find the garden has a new wild animal pottering around the plants and over the lawn.

Yes, the garden is now home to a ‘re-homed’ rescue hedgehog. Max, is a 2-year-old male, who has been ‘called’ Spikey by my daughters, although he’s not been seen since he was set free last week.

 

I’ve been feeding him small amounts of cat food at night, although whether he is eating it or the local cats are taking it, is something I’ve not been able to find out.

He is a big male and I hope he sticks around to provide another layer of the natural circle of life in the garden.

The escallonia and pyracantha are full of flowers and attracting hundreds of bees (honey and bumble) every day, while a red ladybird poppy plant has already produced eight brightly coloured flowers to light up another area of the garden.

There are numerous sunflowers now planted outside, along with broad beans and tomato plants.

And with the summer sun making its presence known, I’m hoping they will all grow big and strong, while Max (Spikey) takes care of those pesky slugs and snails.

SUMMER SUN IS BRIGHTENING UP THE WILDLIFE

The house sparrows are becoming even shyer as the signal from the blue tit nest box camera is intermittent at best.

I fear they’ve either pecked at it or pushed nesting material and forced the emitting antennae to malfunction.

I can’t try to fix the problem, as the eggs are about to hatch or have hatched in the last 24 hours – I suspect the latter as activity has certainly increased to the nest box.

I bought some mealworms last week, which attracted plenty of birds to the feeders, particularly the house sparrow parents in the neighbourhood – I counted at least ten adults at one point so presume there are at least six nests in and around the garden.

Unfortunately all the mealworms have now gone, after a night-time thief raided the containers outside the back door and took what was remaining.

The thief also carried out a daytime raid, so my list of main suspects is down to two – magpies or grey squirrel.

The squirrel hasn’t been seen recently, while the magpies have a nest nearby and are almost daily visitors to the garden.

I’ll have to keep the next lot of mealworms locked away more securely!

No hedgehogs yet, but I’m pretty hopeful of being able to pick up one or two rescued ones next weekend.

Finally I’ve planted out a number of sunflowers, broad beans and runner beans, all with biodegradable slug and snail pellets.

The first night didn’t capture many of the plant destroyers, so I hope for the hedgehogs’ sake that the neighbours have plenty!