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[CLKD]

Slowly unless a bird is behind them ? 

A new load arrived this morning so all feeders topped up - guess what, not a bird in the place  .  Haven't seen the blackbird with the broken leg either  ………

[Hurdity]

Very sad story for buzzards being allowed to be "controlled" to protect pheasant rearing.....

https://commonbynature.co.uk/2016/07/30/a-disgraceful-decision-by-natural-england/

Hurdity x

[Taz2]

Slowly unless a bird is behind them ? 

I think it was the beetles that did the marching into the shed ready to have their naughty flings and lay their eggs!

Taz x 

[CLKD]

……    we find beetles all over the place; in the house, in the cabin, so they are productive but not enough so that I don't have to buy fresh each week 

[purplenanny]

After five years of making her garden hedgehog friendly, including a special house, my sister achieved her dream....a family with 3 babies!
But within 2 days, the adults and two babies had died. She doesn't know what happened to the other baby.
Really horrible thing to happen. She can only assume the neighbour uses slug
pellets.

[purplenanny]

Yes, she is sparkle.
She is wildlife mad and her garden is a haven for all kinds of insects, birds and animals

[Taz2]

How sad. If they had been poisoned this would be evident. It takes quite a while for the poison to take effect. The hedgehogs display signs of poisoning such as foaming at the mouth and contortion of the body while out in the open. They don't die in the nest. The other thing is that male and females don't bring up the family together. The males disappear after mating and so there would only be one adult hedgehog in the "family". It is worrying that a mother and babies have died. Often if disturbed the mother will kill the babies but she will obviously then still be ok.

I'm particularly sad tonight having just hit a hedgehog on the way home. It was on a bend and I just couldn't avoid it but I feel really upset.

Taz x

[purplenanny]

Oh poor Taz, that's horrible for you. Don't be hard on yourself, you didn't do it on purpose x

Thanks for the info. Sister didn't notice any foaming or contortion. They seemed to be perfect. Very strange.
PN x

[Taz2]

Were they altogether in their house?  Thank you for your kind words. It still feels like I should have been able to avoid it but I know you are right.

Taz x

[purplenanny]

No, they were out in the garden. Two babies the first night, parent the next night and then the other parent .
It really was so sad and my sister is still down about it. She says she should never have encouraged them in the first place. Blames herself, just like you did Taz. Hope you are feeling brighter today.
PN x

[CLKD]

Do not stop encouraging our wild-life.  It may have been a virus - pity a corpse wasn't taken for a post mortem.  One would think that hedgehogs being as rare as they are, would learn to take care when crossing the road  .  Many years ago I had a baby hedgehog drown in a small bowl of water ………… ………. as well as mice that get into buckets.   

Didn't sit outside last night, too tired 

[Taz2]

No, they were out in the garden. Two babies the first night, parent the next night and then the other parent .
It really was so sad and my sister is still down about it. She says she should never have encouraged them in the first place. Blames herself, just like you did Taz. Hope you are feeling brighter today.
PN x

PN - the other adult hedgehog was not the "other parent". Hedgehogs mate and the male goes off straight away and has nothing to do with the female. The female collects the material and builds the nest herself and brings up the young on her own. A hedgehog "family" consists of mother and babies never another adult. Your sister shouldn't feel down about it as all she did was offer them a shelter to nest in. They weren't caged within her garden and could come and go as they pleased. It is fairly late in the season for young anyway so their survival through the winter wouldn't have necessarily been certain. I agree with CLKD that a post mortem would have been useful on the adult hedgehogs. This would determine whether they were suffering from the myriad of hedgehog ailments, whether they were dehydrated (many hedgehogs are suffering in this dry spell) or malnourished.

I'm feeling better today thanks. Still sad though.

Taz x

[purplenanny]

Gosh Taz, that is all very interesting information, which I will pass to my sister. Hopefully it will make her feel better about continuing to have her wildlife garden. I feel sure she will as it is the main interest in her life now.
PN x

[CLKD]

Can't open the Link Hurdity 

Nature is cruel.  Our hogs arrive more or less at the same time each evening so they are scurrying between gardens …… for those that died to have done so in the same garden is unusual so they probably hadn't gone far.

[Taz2]

Your sister might like to report the deaths here PN http://www.hedgehogstreet.org/pages/garden-wildlife-health-gwh.html

Taz x