Hedgehog in the garden

[jon2]

Meet spike my nightly visitor. i think it's a male looking at the cracking pair of nuts he has.. Hedgehogs are in decline in the uk so i feel privileged to have a family of them in my garden..
captured on my Qvis IPTZ-IR20-7

 

[TonyR]

Excellent, thanks for sharing!

Hopefully their numbers will spring back and it's not something like pesticides or new predators (humans?) that are hurting them.

I've lived in rural AL in the U.S. for 14 years and saw only a few turkeys and cottontail rabbits for the first 10, have now seen more in the last 2 years of both than I did in the first 10, so they're on the rise.

In that time, however, have seen less quail and heard fewer chuck-wills-widows and whip-poor-wills. Hopefully they'll come back too. It seems that the numbers of all the wildlife, at least around me, fluctuate every few years.

Possibly the rise in red and grey fox sightings account for the fewer numbers of quail and other ground-dwelling birds. Nature has a way of balancing things out as long as man doesn't wreck things too much.

 

[awsum140]

Looks like he could use a little flea and tick treatment though.

 

[TonyR]

Looks like he could use a little flea and tick treatment though.

Yeah, I was thinking that, too but thought it not wise my mentioning possible issues with agricultural pesticides in the same breath. But certainly those made for cats and small dogs would like give him some relief.

 

[jon2]

Excellent, thanks for sharing!

Hopefully their numbers will spring back and it's not something like pesticides or new predators (humans?) that are hurting them.

I've lived in rural AL in the U.S. for 14 years and saw only a few turkeys and cottontail rabbits for the first 10, have now seen more in the last 2 years of both than I did in the first 10, so they're on the rise.

In that time, however, have seen less quail and heard fewer chuck-wills-widows and whip-poor-wills. Hopefully they'll come back too. It seems that the numbers of all the wildlife, at least around me, fluctuate every few years.

Possibly the rise in red and grey fox sightings account for the fewer numbers of quail and other ground-dwelling birds. Nature has a way of balancing things out as long as man doesn't wreck things too much.

thanks Tony.. unfortunately most of they decline is down to us humans. people are putting slug pellets and the like in they gardens and the hedgehogs feed on the slugs and don't survive. not the only cause but one of them.. they is a big decline in the common house sparrow iv'e noticed this year very few feeding in my garden..

 

[jon2]

Looks like he could use a little flea and tick treatment though.

hedgehogs un the uk are reknown for having fleas its a hedgehog thing,

 

[alastairstevenson]

captured on my Qvis IPTZ-IR20-7

Pretty good low-light imagery, and very good focus.

 

[jon2]

Pretty good low-light imagery, and very good focus.

thank-you alastair. it suits my needs..i still haven't managed to get the plugin but it's not the end of the world.at least i can use the camera,