A New Tenant

There is a new tenant in the hedgehog house who arrived during the night of the 25-26th August. The nest building started during the night quite rapidly. On the evening of the 25^th the box was largely empty but by the following morning the hedgehog had already built enough of a nest to stay during the day of the 26^th. The first day time stay of the new occupant. First daytime stay since 14^th May.

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There isn’t much bedding material on the ground at the moment, especially around the hedgehog house so to give it a helping hand I gathered up some fallen, very dry, lime leaves from elsewhere and deposited them over and around the box.

The hedgehog has so far continued to stay every stay, further developing the nest. My internal camera has managed to show some nice images rather into the heart of the nest. This is one of the hog arriving back into the nest.

I love the way that after the hog inserts itself into the nest, the chamber is carefully closed off with some well placed leaves. Hedgehogs really are quite clever and intricate nest builders. This view is quite lucky but I don’t imagine then it is going to last. As more bedding material is added I’m sure that the camera will become blocked.

So who is the new tenant. It appears, again, to be another Male. He is distinctive particularly from the eyes which although still reflective are quite dull, especially the right eye. He also does seem around the face to be quite worn, not the springest of chickens. So an old, warn male, very apt for me.

He does appear to have some fight left in him. There was a little incident during the week where he gave very short shrift to a potential nest intruder.

I’m tracking and logging the movements and so far the new hedgehog does appear to be spending quite a lot of time inside the nest. Coming out during the night for quite short expeditions for the minimum time necessary for the essentials. Maybe this is normal when a hog has first arrived in a new nest. When he starts to think about moving on he will be out longer as he looks for a new site.

I would think that it’s far too early for hedgehogs to be picking our hibernation sites so I do assume that he will move on in some days or weeks. However hopefully not too soon.