Any Visitors To Your Garden Not Seen Before Lockdown?

[ladybirder]

Or your local area to those without a garden. I know many of you have hedgehogs on a regular basis but I had never seen one here until 10 days ago. That one was out in the sunlight and is now in a wildlife rescue centre. Then last night, at dusk, I saw TWO of them on my patio so chopped my last banana up and threw it out for them. I can't describe the joy they bring to me. Praying they stick around after this is all over.

[woofgang]

I would not say I dislike hedgehogs or wish them ill, but be careful. The ones we get around here are laden with ticks and fleas.

[bednobs]

eerrgghh a toad in our garden yesterday. For all i know they might havebeen there before but i havent seen one

[SparklyKid]

Does next doors cat count ?

[ladybirder]

That's a shame woof, ticks can make them very ill, fleas they seem to cope with and they don't live on anything else as they're hedgehog specific. I'm not touching them anyway, just feeding them.
Bednobs I'm jealous, I can't remember ever seeing a toad. Frogs yes but not toads.
Next door's cat comes into my garden to do its business and to kill my birds Sparkly. Does it bring joy, No, and if yours is the same then No it jolly well doesn't count. But then you knew that anyway didn't you;-)

[woofgang]

ladybirder, hedgehog fleas may not live on other species but they sure can bite them and use them to travel elsewhere. Its one of the reasons that cats continually pick up fleas. Yes an overgrowth of ticks may make them ill but like other wildlife, they cope with a certain amount and again share them around.

[ladybirder]

Woof have you got a link to "they sure can bite them and use them to travel elsewhere. Its one of the reasons that cats continually pick up fleas."
I have been using this as a reference since discovering them in my garden.
https://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/leaflets/L8-Care-and-Treatment.pdf

[woofgang]

yes I have seen it. it says that they can't survive on other animals, not that they don't bite them.

[sherrardk]

Last summer my garden was literally over run with hedgehogs and I didn’t notice any flea bites on the kids or any fleas on my cat.

Ladybirder, I feed mine special dry hedgehog food in a feeding station.

[sherrardk]

Ps - to answer your question, we have seen two foxes recently, not in a distant field but close up.

[Patsy33]

I've seen a couple of different butterflies. Other than that, we have a hedgehog in our garden, which we do most years. Usually helps itself to my cats supper! That's because we don't shut conservatory door till quite late at nights.

[iluvmargie]

I rescued a hedgehog once and took it to the vet's. Neither me, nor anybody at the vet's were bitten by fleas and it was handled a lot before being released back into the wild.

[ladybirder]

Sherr I've got hedgehog food on order which will be delivered tomorrow. Can't imagine how many you've got when you say you are overrun and that was before lockdown. Wow. I think I might get a feeding station, not sure if I need one though??
Re fleas we didn't see any on the one we rescued either and next door's dog which was sniffing around it didn't get any so all good. Does one badger beat two foxes as that's what my daughter has seen, it was walking along the road though, not in the garden.
Another lucky one Patsy with a hog and how lovely the butterflies. I haven't noticed any different ones this year, yet, Good for you Margie, I'm hoping we get ours back to join its mates by the end of the week. It does say in my link "some" get fleas so we seem to be the lucky ones.
Thanks everyone. I was hoping for bears and wolves but never mind.

[sherrardk]

I’d get or make a feeding station - it discourages cats, etc and keeps the food dry. I have my feeding station out in the open so we can see what’s going on. One night last year, there were at least fifteen running around at the same time. The ones who visited us, got quite bold and also openly queued up to get into the feeding station.

[ladybirder]

Naturally I'd want to see them Sherr but I only have a small garden probably 55% paving and steps and 45% tree and shrub borders. So I'd want to put the feeding station to one side of the patio where I could see it. Would that be OK? It's mainly from the patio I'm feeding them at the moment.

[sherrardk]

I’ve no idea really, I know a lot of people hide the feeding station in the shrubs but mine is in the middle of a slabbed area so we can see it from inside the house. It’s about three foot away from the back door and they happily came to it last year when I was outside having a ciggie.

[ladybirder]

Ditto Sherr, that's how it would be here. I'll look at some online tomorrow. Thank you.

[grandpajoe]

Yes today. A big Jackdaw hanging upside down on the feeder decimating the suet balls!!

[Tilly2]

Same old, same old here. Foxes, hedgehogs, birds, although we have had three mallards visiting to look for nesting sites. Two males and one female.

They can duck off. No ducklings here please! Tilly would chase them.

[albaqwerty]

quite a few bumblebees.
I'd forgotten how huge they are!!

I heard on the radio that if you see a hedgie during the day it could be dehydrated, the poor thing.

[ladybirder]

Yes, very urgent to get them help, that's why my daughter took ours to a Wildlife Rescue Alba. It's been there a week now.
Jackdaws just love them Joe don't they. Yes, having a dog makes a difference Tilly, fun for her but not the the wildlife.