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[CLKD]

Now that nights are dark by 8.00 I have to remember to feed hogs earlier, for several evenings we have had 3 visiting  .  Probably from the same family.  One is a very dark chocolate colour.  They love the dried meal worms, I have live ones which I will put out once they are here.  Otherwise the worms will crawl away  .  Birds feeding on the nuts/sunflower seeds etc., fish feeding well.  Frogs popping out from behind plants    .

The sunflower heart feeder has encouraged young gold-finches :-).  Not a lot done, been watching 

[Hurdity]

We have got a mass of giant sunflowers, some 7 feet tall, surrounding the bird feeder from the sunflower seeds I've been feeding and dropped off into the flower bed (which I cleared earlier in the year to stop the cats hiding...). Somehow they just grew when I wasn't looking and busy and away on hols or with relatives.....they completely surround the bird-table so what with the giant hollyhocks and these it's a wonder they (the birds) can feed at all! Can't bring myself to pull them out though as the (sunflower) heads are massive!!

Goldfinches - that reminds me I must refill the nyjer seed feeder in back garden - trouble is it's all gone pretty much the day after I refill it!

Hurdity x

[CLKD]

Sometimes sun flowers don't have seed in them.  Those grown for animal/bird feed are not F1 varieties.  I had cannibis years ago 

[CLKD]

Small hog arrived and tucked into a mix of dried and live meal worms.  20 mins. later she was still snuffling round the bowl when another joined her, a bit of shoulder nudging went on.  I think that some of the live worms had gone under the bowl and they could smell them.   

[Hurdity]

F1 varieties  .  They are just huge sunflower plants grown from the dropped bird seed!!! They do look amazing!!

Also we still have a late brood of house-martins from our 4 nests (two babies I think) - the rest have gone (maybe not yet left the country) but number 2 nest I think has a second brood. They'll need to get a move on so that they are ready and mature enough to leave on their long journey soon!

Would love to see a hedgehog again...

Hurdity x

[CLKD]

4 hogs on our patio at 10.25 p.m.  for about an hour.  I had spread meal worms around the grassy areas so they had to snuffle for them. 

I was looking at the 'photos on a hedgehog site - over 3,000 posted.  Not 1 hog was eating the snails/snails but preferred pet food or meal worms.  In one 'photo a hog and a slug were feeding side-by-side 

[Taz2]

Must be lovely to have four to watch. Do you also feed hedgehog food as well as the mealworms? I'm wondering if they go for the mealworms every time. Much as a child might choose an easter egg over broccoli 

Taz x

[Joaniepat]

Does anyone know if slugs have any natural predators? I know of someone who used to live on the coast and threw slugs onto the garage roof, where herring gulls would pick them up, but I'm not aware of any other creatures eating them.
JP x

[CLKD]

Hedgehogs are supposed to eat them.  Ducks may do.  But would you want something that has a slime trail 

Taz - they ignored the hedgehog mixes.  We have a large garden so they have plenty to munch on around the plot, one was seen in the neighbours' garden on Sunday  .  I do wonder how much a 'hog can eat in one sitting 

[Hurdity]

We have slime trails in our kitchen every morning! Slugs come out from somewhere (behind kitchen units? it;s an old cottage...) when we're asleep and rampage everywhere!

Hurdity x

[CLKD]

Yuk  - or out of the wood pile/coal scuttle?

[Taz2]

We have them too. They squeeze out of the skirting board by the back door. Fascinating to watch a leopard slug emerge from the tiniest gap!

Taz x

[CLKD]

They can grow HUGE

We've had lots of lovely Autumn spiders, 10 in the house which go out on my hand if I can catch them, into the shrubs.  I hate walking up the garden first thing as they tend to spin webs at gob height 

Been outside and the 1st hog is there, it scuttled off whilst I was putting food and water out.  I expect it/they will be back.  We have an outside light and they don't seem bothered by it.  Enables us to watch from the kitchen.

[CLKD]

28 gold-finches around the garden on various feeders yesterday.  Woke to a cold start with red sky and a frost on the shed roof. Obviously the birds could feel the air cooling.  Pity they won't clear up though!  I won't be in a hurry to re-fill feeders but on that nyger seed goes everywhere 

2 hedgehogs here at 10.30 p.m. :-)

[Hurdity]

That's a lot of goldfinches - I have never seen that many at once - probably half a dozen around our feeder and in the tree above. I have a tray fixed to the feeder which catches a lot of the nyjer seed. As it's in the back garden hanging from an apple tree branch I often forget to check and refill it. They never come to the front garden where there are peanuts, sunflower seed (in husks) mixed bird seed and fatballs. It's mainly our sparrow flock at the moment - probably about 20 of them which will reduce over the winter as the sparrowhawks feed...

Hurdity x