ED Nature Watch

[flapjackdavey]

When I lived near Exeter I had a hedgehog hide in the garden, inherited from the previous owners, and all it ever attracted was snails .........

CivilServant, I'm up for anything which will increase the ED hedgehog population, provided they don't eat froglets. I have one in the garden which is only about as big as the nail on my little finger. It makes the other tiny froglets look enormous!

ETA: Ooops sorry this is Sue using FJD's laptop ....

[civilservant]

sweet!

but alas I suspect that hoglets eat froglets...

when I lived in Surrey, I supplied a hedgehog with a comfy cardboard box to hibernate in and took care not to disturb it all winter long, only to find in the spring that the occupant had moved out some time earlier without leaving a forwarding address!

[edhistory]

Those web pages about hedgehogs also have interesting information about fox population densities.

If I have read it right, the "natural" fox population of our entire valley would be about half a dozen fox "families".

John K

[flapjackdavey]

What is the boundary of our "valley" John K?

Sorry if you posted this before and I missed it.

Sue (using FJD's laptop, apologies for confusion)

[civilservant]

John's post sent me back to look at the hedgehog website.

It appears that I was wrong to suggest that hedgehogs eat frogs - and also wrong to think that they relish slugs and snails.

I didn't see the info about fox population density, but suspect that we've got a few more than 6 fox families in our valley.

[flapjackdavey]

I always thought hedgehogs ate slugs and snails?

[civilservant]

apparently they prefer beetles and worms

the problem with slugs and snails seems to be that they carry lungworm and other parasites which can be fatal for mammals, including dogs

but my dream of persuading the neighbours to help set up a hedgehog sanctuary across our back gardens has taken a bad knock - it turns out that there's a major hedgehog peril actually living in our house i.e. our little ruffian of a terrier!

[flapjackdavey]

He would get his nose full of spines, surely?

[civilservant]

not sure that would stop him,and hedgehog babies aren't very prickly...

[flapjackdavey]

You're up late :)

[The Minkey]

I was chatting with a neighbour yesterday who told me how the residents of Foxgrove in Beckenham called in the council to exterminate their foxes only to find once their foxy predators had been removed, the rat population took over instead and they were literally inundated. Given the choice, I'd rather have foxes in my garden.

[civilservant]

love the irony, TM, wonder whether they renamed it Ratgrove

I'm not for a moment calling for foxes to be put down - you might have seen from some of my posts on other threads that I'm all for allowing our local wildlife to find its own balance, including foxes and rats. My concern is about the unnecessary human impact on wildlife.

I hear from the experts that the main threat to hedgehogs is human tidying up of the environment. The main problems are 'habitat fragmentation' i.e. roads and unbroken fences between gardens that hedgehogs (who need to range) can't cross, barriers such as netting that hedgehogs get trapped in and tear their limbs on, mowers and strimmers that can injure hedgehogs hiding in long grass, poisons such as slug pellets and insecticides, and of course bonfires and terriers and other dogs.

Hedgehogs are not very bright. They are fazed by most man-made obstacles. They pose absolutely no threat to humans - even their fleas are hedgehog-specific. Their response to danger is passive-aggressive i.e. rolling up into a ball. I can't think of any other British animal that is so helpless in the face of the march of urban/suburban tidying up of the landscape. http://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/images/new%20image/hedgehog%20being%20hand%20fed.jpg

I'm going to be finding about what we can do and will share info as soon as I can.

[ianr]

9.30 today I saw a flock of maybe 30-40 black coloured birds just north of the hospital flying approximately south in close formation at ?over 100 feet. They seemed initially to be on a fixed course, but then did some veering with bits of swift-like jinking, climbing and soaring, but still keeping formation. After I'd turned round to find some bins they'd disappeared from sight in the way that swifts do.

I'd been wondering if that was a sign of their departure, as I don't think I've ever seen swifts in close formation before. But I have now found mention of their doing this at the start of feeeding runs. I hope it was that.

[14/8/11 Comment from Peggy Woolley, Ambridge, Borsetshire: "Swifts are usually gone by this time of year."]

[edhistory]

flapjackdavey Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> What is the boundary of our "valley" John K?

I've prepared a map for you.

It's probably important in terms of ecology etc to remember that our valley is NOT part of the Thames Valley.

John K

[civilservant]

wow, flapjackdavey (sue???), immortality beckons - the Flapjack Map of the ED Valley no less!

[The Minkey]

Civilservant, I didn't think you were calling for a cull - I was just posting what seemed to be a rather ironic fox story ;-) And it's no bad thing to point out that foxes who come in for so much bad press, can have a positive role to play in an urban environment.

3 years ago, I had some people come stay and one of them saw a hedgehog in my back garden. I was gutted not to have seen it. I'm very close to Brenchley Gdns and One Tree Hill, and seeing as most of the gardens on my side of the street are divided by privet hedges, it's quite possible she did see one as it would be an easy hog run. I live in hope.

[Sue]

civilservant Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> wow, flapjackdavey (sue???), immortality beckons -

> the Flapjack Map of the ED Valley no less!

xxxxxxx

It's Sue now posting as Sue, though my laptop is still ill :(

Thanks for the map John!

[civilservant]

welcome back, Sue, hope laptop better soon

agree that John's map is fascinating

TM, sorry to hear about your hedgehog near-miss.

I must admit I've only ever been near one on two occasions - once when I thought that one was hibernating in the box in my garage and another time when I heard strange sounds coming from my elderly neighbour's overgrown garden. There seemed to be a thing or things charging around through the long grass making the most extraordinary loud grunting noises.

After a lot of peering into the grass from over the collapsed fence, I discovered that the hullabaloo was coming from a quite small pair of hedgehogs, who were getting to know each other rather better...

[Otto]

Hi -

Just saw a hedgehog meandering around in Dulwich Woods today! Sweet. Not quite Ed civilservant, but, the first I've seen nearby...

[civilservant]

Otto, thanks for that! There is some hope after all!

[edhistory]

I've drawn a blank on this.

Has anyone seen one, and if so, where?

Can anyone point me in the direction of a photograph or a line illustration?

Thanks.

John K

Edit 2011-08-20: I'm looking for something better than Blanch.

[ianr]

>Cyrena Dulwichiensis

It looks as if there's at least one in the Illustrated London News, Saturday, March 24, 1860 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ILLUSTRATED-LONDON-NEWS-24-MARCH-1860-/270738737490. I could stick it on my next Colindale visist list.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Here's some Dulwich Muscle

http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00230/a_230184a.jpg

[edhistory]

Thanks again ianr.

It would be good to get a clear copy of the engraving.

When you're next there could you button-hole a member of staff and ask if they curate any ecclesiastical serials that might have any local information that pre-dates 1840?

John K

[Sue]

I am completely confused. I realise it isn't hard to completely confuse me.

Have I missed a post somewhere? Has the Nature Watch thread turned into something else?