The Hedgehog

[alison]

Last week I noticed a hedgehog eating cake and bread in the garden. It is always lovely to think that a hedgehog walks through the garden. I had told the grandchildren when they arrived at the weekend. On saturday night quite late on, the girls were in bed and Lucy 10yrs old came down and said "Grandma I looked out of the window and the hedgehog is in the garden". We looked through the window of the back door and watched it for a while commenting on the fact that it was quite large so was probably the dad.. Lucy went back to bed and I stood and watched it. I thought it wasn't really moving so I went to get my torch and opened the back door very quietly. Still it didn't move and my torch was rubbish so I went out and got right up to it to find that for the last five minutes I had been watching a black plant pot. It was quite funny really and I went up to tell Lucy but both girls were already fast asleep. So I brought the pot in and in the morning I mentioned the hedgehog to the girls and told them that I had managed to get the hedgehog and still had it, and did they want to see it. Of course they got very excited and then I picked up the black plantpot and said "Here's your hedgehog Lucy" I said to her that I couldn't believe that we had watched a plantpot for over five minutes. How daft am I ? ( hmmm dont answer that )

[alison]

The real hedgehog has been coming in every day and feeding in my garden and in my neighbours garden. I always thought they just come out at night but Sonny said that it was probably feeding young and needed to get as much food as possible. It must have come out three times that day and goodness knows how many times it would have come out in the evening/night.
When I was telling Sonny that it had eaten all the chicken I had put out he said " no it didn't the foxes did". I thought 'Foxes not fox but plural'. Sonny stays up later than me and so he watches two foxes make their way over the road and into our garden every night. I wonder if they are a pair and soon will have a family with them.

[alison]

Oh dear I don't seem to be looking after the hedgehog very well. I went to throw out some apple halves for the blackbirds and didn't notice the 2 hedgehogs in the garden as it was dusk. One of the apples hit the hedgehog right on it's back but it didn't flinch at all just carried on eating. The other one which was nearer the shrubbery ran away. I felt awful for hitting the hedgehog but it didn't seem to bother it in the slightest.

[alison]

A few nights ago I saw what I thought was two hedghogs laying in the garden, so because I could see the prickles on one and the soft fur on the other one I wondered it they were mating (not sure how they do it of couse) but wondered if they were just facing each other.
The next morning I was looking in the garden and saw a massive hedgehog laying on its side. It had died in the garden and what I thought the previous night was two hedgehogs was actually one large dead one. The soft fur was its face and underside and the prickles had been the back of the hedgehog. What a shame but from the size of it I think it was probably as old as it was going to get and had died from old age.