argylesock says… I told you a few weeks ago that there are hedgehogs breeding in my back garden. So very welcome! The hoglets have left the nest now and we see them out and about. Here’s one enjoying a good day’s sleep under my ferns.
From the Guardian : It is a prickly character with a voracious appetite, a passion for gardens and a noisy sex life, and now the hedgehog has been chosen as the best natural emblem for the British nation. NAEE_UK is focused on the UK creatures!
The insectivorous mammal, which has rapidly declined in numbers in recent years, surprisingly triumphed over the charismatic badger and the oak in a BBC Wildlife Magazine poll to find a national species for Britain. See also http://www.discoverwildlife.com/british-wildlife/britains-national-species-revealed
The victory for the ultimate “underdog” – 42% of more than 9,000 votes cast were for the hedgehog – was welcomed by Ann Widdecombe, who is patron of the British Hedgehog Preservation Society.
“I’m over the moon that the hedgehog came top in the BBC Wildlife poll. It is a quintessentially British creature,” she said. “We all need to rally to help the species, which is declining…
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Science on the Land 
I’m incredibly envious of your hoglets! Take care of them they’re getting more and more scarce.
I was at my parents at the weekend and they have one visiting their garden every evening so they out food out for it, and my sister built it a hibernaculum last winter. I’ve only ever seen one live one in Histon though.
Loving ‘hibernaculum’! A place for erinaceous reverie.
I’m sure your parents know which kinds of food are suitable. No cow’s milk. Hedgehog food is readily available online but apparently, cat food or hard-boiled eggs are suitable too.
Indeed. (I read ‘reverie’ as ‘revelry’ first off, it conjured up visions of prickly subterranean debauchery!).
I think they’re using hedgehog food, the hogs have been to and fro for at least a couple of years now so I reckon they thrive on it.
Really? If a nest site ain’t broke, don’t fix it 😉 As you know I’m gardening far less than I used to, ‘thanks’ to my disability. Now I have another excuse for being a messy gardener – won’t be tidying away the hedgies’ nest – not that I’d have done such a thing anyway! Apparently hedgehogs often wake up during the winter and move to another hibernaculum so if this one gets too warm (it’s next to a house wall) they’ll know what to do. Must find out whether they like a snack at such times.