Brian's Hedgehog - and other night visitors!

Hi Folks. I know some of you will have seen this already, but our Chairman, Brian, put out some food for the Hedgehogs recently. He had three visits by a Hedgehog that night, but also two cats got in on the act. 

Cats are a tad more cunning than hedgehogs, and there's a danger that they will spread the word and you'll soon find that  you are being eaten out of house and home by the felines, and the poor hedgehogs won't get a look-in. 

I guard against this with home-made hedgehog feeding stations, made out of an upturned clear under-bed storage box (cheap in Wilko's), with a 13 cm x 13 cm hole with a rounded top cut in one end. The lid then forms the base of the feeder, and can be lined with newspaper. I also make a tunnel entrance from two house bricks on their sides with a roof tile on top, weighed down with a rock. With adjustment, cats can't get in. I leave Tesco's kitten biscuits (recommended by the Leicester Hedgehog Rescue people) in a raised mesh tray of the type used for bird seed. I also leave a dish of water outside the feeding station - I use the flat plastic dishes of the type that you stand plant pots in, but use chicken 'drinkers' if I'm going to be away for an extended period. 

Take good care and stay safe - - - Richard

Sallie's Dragon - August, 2020

Group member Sallie Corfield has sent in some super photos with the following message:-

"Thought I’d send these photos on of a southern hawker (unless I’m wrong in my ID?) ovipositing in my pond. It must have been doing this for around 45 minutes and mostly in the same place in the moss on this log next to the water. My kids were absolutely captivated! My pond is quite new having been put in around a year ago. "

What a wonderful experience, Sallie! Nothing wrong with your ID - a female Southern Hawker is probably the most likely dragonfly to visit a garden pond in these parts in order to lay eggs, and they do like a patch of moss to lay into too!

I hope that, if you have a garden without a garden pond, this will help to encourage you to put one in. You might be amazed and entertained by what visits.

Southern Hawker (Aeshna cyanea) (female) - Sallie's garden

Thank you so much for sending in these photos and information, Sallie - very much appreciated! 

Take good care, folks, and stay safe - it's not over yet!