We have a new daily visitor in the garden, meet Gijs the hedgehog!
You can nearly put your your clock on it – Gijs will appear around 16.30 every afternoon, entering the garden from the neighbours garden.
Gijs the Hedgehog - enters the scene
He then has a little walk through the garden to see if there is anything interesting to eat for him. We have been feeding him small bits of cheese the last couple of days, and he loves those.
Gijs the Hedgehog - are you looking at me?
And after a bit of time in the garden he leaves again.
Gijs the Hedgehog - leaving the scene
Isn’t Gijs cute!
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Be careful with milk and milk-related products. He might get diarrhoea from it. Best is wet catfood and water.
And yes, he’s really cute.
Yes, as kids we were told to feed hedgehogs with milk and bread but apparently that is bad for them and they can eat catfood!
Haven’t seen a hedgehog for years they used to be very common but maybe they have learnt to hide now to avoid getting squashed on the road!
It’s a very charming visitor.
From Wikipedia
Diet
A young European Hedgehog
Although traditionally classified in the now abandoned order Insectivora, hedgehogs are not exclusively insectivores but are almost omnivorous. Hedgehogs feed on insects, snails, frogs and toads, snakes, bird eggs, carrion, mushrooms, grass roots, berries, melons, and watermelons. In fact, berries constitute a major part of an Afghan Hedgehog’s diet in early spring after hibernation. The hedgehog is occasionally spotted after a rainstorm foraging for earthworms. Although forest hedgehogs, most well-known to Europeans, are indeed mainly insectivores, this is not necessarily true for other species.
In areas that have hedgehogs in the wild, they are often welcomed as a natural form of garden pest control. Many people leave food out to attract hedgehogs and they will consume tinned cat or dog food (with a preference for chicken flavours, and a dislike of fish), chopped peanuts, raisins and cheese.[7] Pet food is preferable to dairy, but both are often too high in fat and too low in protein. It is best to leave out only a small treat, leaving them plenty of appetite for the pests in one’s garden.
I love Gijs! :-)
Yes he is very cute indeed. I will try and collect some more photos of him.
So cute!!! :-)