Our Nightly visitor

This chap hangs around behind the shrubs until the dog food is put out.:) Amazing how quickly he appears on smelling the tasty canine snack.:)

Great shots. Certainly feeding him up :)

Awww. He's gorgeous. Nice captures Rolf :)

Are those a couple of ticks he's got around his head? I spotted mine yesterday (rarely see them but see their poo, so know they are still there!).
I was in my greenhouse (which is more of a junk repository), and I heard a rustling. I grabbed a shot of his bum, but didn't think you would particularly want to see that ;) Mind you, I wonder why he was out in the day. I seem to have very few slugs so I wonder if he's hungry? I would consider putting out cat food but there are just so many cats around here that I think all it would do is encourage them here even more :(

Yes they look like ticks, apparently cat food isn't ideal, but dog food is.

Yes, so I believe - but I wouldn't be feeding him over any period of time, just enough to help him out... and I'm not buying food specially for him in case it's not eaten :)

Well the most important time will be Autumn, as if there are youngsters, they need to gain weight quickly. :)

Hedgehogs may be seen during the day just now as the very warm weather may have made them very thirsty. (Normally, seeing one out in daytime means it's ill. :()

This was one which appeared one very hot day in Ayr (1st pic). Temperature on 19th July, 2006 registered 31c at Prestwick Airport - but it certainly felt more than that....

The second pic is of Hedgehogs here in New Milton at night in 2008. They were eating cat biscuits.

The last one was taken last year. I took the pic from some distance away with just my little Canon A400 as I didn't want to disturb them, so it's not too clear.... :(

I now put the cat food (Tesco's chicken, duck and rabbit mix) in this little tray which is put out after nine at night. They come between 10 and 11pm and scoff it all up, so there's no worry about encouraging any other creatures into the garden when putting it down.

What a noise they make crunching away - and all the snuffling when they sniff round each other! :)

Thanks for that Catherine - I was worried to see it in the day. I do keep some water on the go (mainly for the birds, but if anyone else wants a sip....), so hopefully it's fine. It can also nibble at my Strawberries if it's really thirsty although I would rather that it didn't :) As for the nose - they are amazingly noisy aren't they? I suppose that's what comes form being so well protected - you don't need to worry about attracting predators when you carry your own set of spikes ;)

Nice one Catherine, looks like you've got a pretty active garden.:)

You're right here, Rolf - and it seems to include lots of slugs and snails as well!!! Despite the fact they are supposed to eat slugs, I've never spotted one of my hedgehogs eating one... even if it's right in front of him. I think it's all a ploy to make us think they are useful ;)

Here's a shot from tonight, taken with a short lens, but he wasn't too bothered.:)

I think that he presence of a pile of food will ensure that YOUR presence is unimportant - after all, they ARE also known as "Hedge-Pigs" :)