Monday 7 April 2008

The Visitor

This information came from my notebook dated 21st April 2007.

'We had a bit of a garden spring clean today. Old lawnmowers and bikes were shifted. Bottles for recycling, leaf mulch, cardboard boxes and bits of wood came out of their hidey- holes to find new hidey -holes. Our 'tidying up' usually means just a shuffle around a bit.

Anyway, whilst my other half was dismantling some trellis from a fence he could hear a noise coming from under a pile of 'junk'. He called for me to come and investigate. 'What do you think it is?' I asked him. He said he thought it could be a cat or a toad! I thought it would more likely be a rat and felt a bit vulnerable in my skirt and slippers. I gingerly started to dismantle a pile of bikes and bottles and there tucked up against the fence was a .....................................hedgehog!


I was particularly delighted as this is the second time I have seen a live hedgehog in all my life. The other occasion was when I caught a fleeting glimpse of one running along a street many years ago.
It wasn't possible for us to leave the hedgehog where we found him, so kitted out in my rubber gloves I picked him up and moved him to another sheltered spot in the garden. I do hope he stays. He is a great pest controller if all the empty snail shells nearby were anything to go by.'
I never saw the hedgehog again. Maybe I'll find him again this year when we do our annual garden clean up!

10 comments:

  1. Aren't hedgehogs fab? I love them! I do hope he turns up again! Lucy x

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  2. Oh so cute! I have not seen a hedgehog for ages, in my garden.
    Sal;-)

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  3. I like hedgehogs, I don't suppose you have room in the garden to make a hedgehog heap for him/her to live in? My method of being tidy is moving things round a bit as well! x

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  4. how sweet. We looove hedgehogs! I wish I would find one in my yard. But that's highly unlikely here.

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  5. Hope he comes back-- maybe he had just woken from his sleep last year
    Lisa x

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  6. Oh he's so cute!
    The closest thing we have here is an echidna.. and get them in our garden from time to time {as well as rats!!} :O)
    I have a little book tag on my blog for you if you feel like playing along {entirely optional!!}
    Gx

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  7. Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww!! So cute!
    In our last garden we had a resident hedgehog, we knew he had been around because the children used to delight in finding hedghog poo all over the lawn! We only saw him once, my goodness they can scuttle pretty fast and her was there and gone in a moment. I love them, can't help but think of Mrs tiggywinkle!
    xx
    ps we always tidy by shuffling junk from one place to another lol.

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  8. Hedgie is so cute, and great for the garden, hope he comes back this year!

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  9. How cute! We don't have hedgehogs in North Dakota. Or snails, for that matter. Rabbits--tons of rabbits--hehe!
    Always, Rita

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  10. Hello! We had a bit of a clean up in the garden today, but didn't find any hedgehogs. My husband found a toad last week. I haven't seen any hedgehogs in the garden since I was a little girl and we use to have loads of them then.
    Kimx

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