Hoglet

With the family over from Australia I haven't done much birding over the last few weeks. A quick mid afternoon trip to Hilbre in glorious weather saw a juvenile Blackbird and a young Common Whitethroat being ringed. A bank-holiday weekend trip to see my parents in Somerset was spent mostly at Lyme Regis with our granddaughter. My parents do have Green Woodpeckers visiting the paddock next to the house though and they were a regular morning sighting. Back home there have been a few migrant Chiffs and Willow Warblers dropping into the small copse by the pond and making occasional forays into the garden.

Highlight of the last few days though was this little Hedgehog:

I answered a knock at the door to find a young girl standing there who I didn't recognise. Apparently she was the girlfriend of a neighbours son and had been given my name to help rescue a young hedgehog in their garden as they were concerned their Jack Russel would kill it.

It was vey undernourished but when we got it into our garden I mixed up some Weetabix with milk and a load of peanuts and sultana's and within minutes it uncurled and filled its face before trundling off into the hedge. It was still in the garden at 10 pm last night rooting amongst the flower beds. Hopefully it will put on enough weight to survive hibernation.