It's been a wet old Summer and apart from the last week we've had endless days of relentless rain and greyness! Good for the lawn and my newly planted borders but not so good for butterflies, bees & fledgling birds. We've kept up the bird feeding regime front and back and hopefully most of the young blue tits, robins and sparrows that visited our feeders through the spring and summer have now survived into adulthood.
Meanwhile the slug and snail population has thrived during the wet weather so my young Hostas and Lupin plants are a prime target for slug and snail raids! Amazingly so far no sign of damage though....
and the Hosta has gorgeous flower spikes - maybe something to do with being on a gravel base - or could it be something to do with our nocturnal visitor?
We've spotted him several evenings at dusk, trotting down the lawn and into the borders. Hedgehogs like a supply of water, so the shallow dish of water left out for our doglett also provides our resident hedgehog with a welcome drink plus he can slip under the fence into our neighbour's garden and forage for more yummy squelchy snacks!
Whatever the reason...we're lucky to have our little prickly visitor. Hedgehogs are in decline and their population has plummeted dramatically over the last 10 years. No one knows quite why but a combination of loss of habitat, pesticides, overly tidy gardens and natural predators have all contributed to the demise of this charming species.
Let's hope that our efforts to help one Hedgeyhog will bring more baby hogletts into the world!
And if you want to find out more - here's a link to the British Hedgehog Society:
http://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/
