I opened up with caution after a phone call last night from Jim saying he had had to lock a car in (remember gates close at 4:30pm) I was expecting to find a very cross person waiting to pick up their car. However all the car parks were empty....it seems we have a Houdini act on our hands!
So I carried on with the unlocking a bit puzzled. There isn't much to report. An elephant hawk moth in the moth trap was a nice surprise though! There were a lot of squirrels about, 5 under one of the feeders, I assume they are young families of squirrel. There was also a roe deer lurking in the bushes.
Then it was back to office to crack on with my studies. Until there was a knock on the door. A member of the public stood there with a bundle of spines on a plastic bag. He had found the hedgehog curled up on the edge of Ellingham Drove but still alive. An odd place to have a nap so I assumed it had been hit. Anyhow it was still asleep and not very responsive but had no obvious damage.
I rang round lots of hedgehog rescue rangers but no one was willing to accept another hedgehog. Luckily I found a good contact on the hedgehog preservation society website who was very helpful. Whilst on the phone the hedgehog started to wake up! She suggested feeding and watering it and seeing how it was a bit later on as ideally it should be released here in its home territory.
So I found the badger's supply of cat food and cracked it open and put the hedgehog who was asleep again in a box with the food. It didn't take long for its little nose to pick up the scent and it was soon gobbling down the food.
It had seconds, and thirds and then had a little nap. Then it woke up and had fourths..... and fifths!! Followed by a slurp of drink. I am starting to wonder whether it is just a very hungry hedgehog who has been struggling to find much food after all the dry weather we have had. By now Mr Prickles is getting a bit disruptive to my coursework with all his slurping and munching and suddenly he was feeling a lot better as I looked down to see him trying to climb out the box.
Hooray for Mr Prickles!
I wanted to keep an eye on him for a bit longer so I put the lid down to see if he would fall asleep. Which he did, he is now fast asleep. The Hedgehog lady said to check that he was ok I needed to see that he slept during the day and was awake at night and curled up into a ball if you poked him. Well at them moment he is sleeping so I think I will try and ring the lady again to see if I should release him! I have poked him and he curled up in to a ball.
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