[lang_en]Night Patrol[/lang_en][lang_fr]Patrouille de Nuit[/lang_fr]
[lang_en]
two hedgehogs eating peanuts
Our terrace is inspected every night by the local night watch. They go over every inch of the grounds, looking for intruders that shouldn’t be there. They’re quiet and unobtrusive, doing their work efficiently and without supervision.
They first appeared a couple of months ago, not long after the last snows melted here. We first found evidence of them in the droppings they left behind. When it comes to animal droppings, I don’t know – much, but a few minutes with google confirmed that these were likely the work of those cutest of creatures, the hedhehog.
Sure enough, it turns out that we have not one, but two (at least!) that come round for a nightly visit. Around 10pm each evening they squeeze under the garden gate, help themselves to a meal (breakfast?) of peanuts and sunflower seeds, then set off on their rounds.
(These photos are rather poor quality because they were taken without flash, so they are several-second exposures. I don’t like to use flash on animals, especially nocturnal ones.)
When we realised who it was that was visiting us at night we started putting out more nuts for them, instead of just letting them have the leftovers from the birds. After all, the birds don’t leave much! At first we left peanuts in their shells. The hedgehogs made short work of them but also left something of a mess, with bits of shell everywhere. After looking around the internet for information on how to feed hedgehogs, I found very little that talked about peanuts. So I contacted the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, to ask their advice.
Fay Vass promptly replied, telling me that unsalted peanuts are fine, but that they should be chopped or crushed, as whole or half-nuts can get stuck in the roof of their mouths. Thanks for the advice, Fay, they now have a diet of chopped nuts and sunflower seeds to start their evening.
You might think that the British Hedgehog Preservation Society is a small group, tucked away in some quiet place in the English countryside. Small they may be, but that hasn’t stopped them from taking on McDonalds over their hedgehog-unfriendly packaging, successfully persuading them to redesign it so hedgehogs can’t get stuck in it. Good for them!
So now, thanks to the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, our local night patrol is well and safely fed. They eat for 15-20 minutes, then they’re off on their rounds, keeping our terrace slug-free.
And the best thing of all is that they work for peanuts!
...still eating...
...and off on patrol
[/lang_en]
[lang_fr]
deux herissons mangeant des cacahuetes
Notre terrace est surveille par les gardes de nuit. Ils controllent chaque centimetre du terrain, a la recherche des intrus qui ne devrait pas etre la. Ils travaillent sans bruit, sans supervision, et ils sont tres efficace.
Ils etaient venus pour la premiere fois il y a deux mois, peu apres que la neige est fondue. On a trouve l’evidence de leur passage bien avant qu’on les a vus, et avec un peu de recherche sur google, on a verifie qu’ils etaient des herissons.
Enfin, il semble que nous n’avons pas un, mais deux (au moins!) qui nous visite le soir. Vers 22:00 chaque jour ils passent sous le portail, ils mangent des cacahuetes et des graines de tournesols qu’on les laisse, puis ils partent faire le tour du jardin.
(Ces photos sont de mauvais qualite car je les a pris sans flash, donc des exposures sont de plusiers secondes. Je n’aime pas utiliser le flash sur des animaux, surtout pas des animaux nocturnes.)
Des qu’on a reconnu nos visiteurs on les a laisse davantage a manger, au lieu de les laisser que ce qu’il restait a la fin du jour quand les oiseaux partaient dormir. Enfin, les oiseaux ne laisse jamais grande chose! D’abord on les a donne des cacahuetes entiers. Les herissons les mangeaient sans problemes, mais je n’etais pas scertain si c’etaient bon de les donner des cacahuetes. Donc, j’ai contacte le British Hedgehog Preservation Society (v.f. par google), pour son avis.
Fay Vass m’a repondu aussitot, me disant que des noix non-sale, c’est bien, mais il faut qu’ils soient hache ou ecrase, des cacahuetes entiere pouvant bloquer dans la bouche. Merci pour les conseils, Fay, nos herissons n’ont plus des cacahuetes entiere, je les sert hache chaque soir.
On pourrait penser que le British Hedgehog Preservation Society seraient un group petit, cache dans un coin tranquil d’angleterre. Petit, peut-etre, mais ca les a pas empecher de poursuivre Macdo pour ces emballages dangereux pour les herissons (v.f. par google). Ils ont convaincu Macdo de changer ces embellages, ce n’est plus possible de coincer un herisson dedans. Tant mieux!
Donc, maintenant, grace a la British Hedgehog Preservation Society, notre patrouille de nuit est nourrit bien et en tout securite. Ils mangent pendant 15 a 20 minutes, puis ils partent faire le tour, a la recherche des limaces et d’autres petits betes. La, je suis bien contents!
...il mange toujours...
...et hop! C'est parti!
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Tags: [lang_en]Hedgehog[/lang_en][lang_fr]Herisson[/lang_fr]
May 24th, 2010 at 13:45
I was lucky enough to get close to a hedgehog 2 years ago, before that I’ve only seen a quick flask of one once before. They are becoming more common here now and I hope to see one soon again since they are very interesting as well as beautiful animals.
May 24th, 2010 at 14:35
they are cute, aren’t they! They’ve started coming a little later now that the weather has warmed up, so I guess they’re finding more food out and about, which is good news. It’s been a long, cold spring here, and the bugs and slugs just weren’t there for them.