Good deed for the day

Post by Si » 23 Oct 2008, 2:06pm

So there I am cycling along an urban road with a park to one side. Leaves blowing across the road up ahead. But one looks a little odd - it's blowing the wrong way! Get closer...is it a squirrel? Certainly the right colour but too short and moving too slow. Get closer and it's a hedgehog, dicing with the traffic.

So I move to the middle of the road, come to a stop and use the bike to shield the little chap as he makes his way to the park, much to the bewilderment of the rest of the traffic - although I must say that no one got upset.

He finally makes it to the other side safely, scrambles up the kerb and off into the undergrowth and we all continue on our ways.

Although I was very tempted to stick him in my rack top bag and take him to my allotment to eat some slugs!

Post by **Mick F** » 23 Oct 2008, 3:01pm

Well done Si!

Except that you should've brought him down here. We have slugs a-plenty, but zero hedgehogs, we never see them locally. I often wonder why.

kwackers · Post by **kwackers** » 23 Oct 2008, 3:12pm

Mick F wrote:Well done Si!

Except that you should've brought him down here. We have slugs a-plenty, but zero hedgehogs, we never see them locally. I often wonder why.

Same for me, but I've a theory. Modern style of fence, particularly the one's with concrete posts and a concrete slab base with wooden top.

Completely sealed to small animals, how are our prickly friends supposed to get around the gardens?

Post by Si » 23 Oct 2008, 3:20pm

Seem to have plenty around here - well, keep seeing squished ones in the road :cry:

.

Now if you'd said before hand Mick I could have done so as I'll be down there in Cornwall tomorrow - hope you are having some good weather as it took me a week to dry everything out last time :evil:

reohn2 · Post by **reohn2** » 23 Oct 2008, 3:44pm

Si wrote:Seem to have plenty around here - well, keep seeing squished ones in the road :cry: .

Now if you'd said before hand Mick I could have done so as I'll be down there in Cornwall tomorrow - hope you are having some good weather as it took me a week to dry everything out last time

Thats why the hedgehog crossed the road................to get to his flatmate,sorry, I'll get me coat

Which reminds me,I was sat in my van having my lunch break some years back now,when scanning some alotments I noticed something moving sticking out of a plastic drinks crate (you know the type that take 12 big bottles)on a more careful look it turned out to be a Hedgehog stuck with his back legs sticking out,he was completely knackered,head down one of the bottle openings and back legs cycling in mid air.
So I got my ladders off the top of the van and rescued him, he wandered off into the undergrowth.
How long he'd been there is anyones guess but it was his lucky day.

thirdcrank · Post by **thirdcrank** » 23 Oct 2008, 3:50pm

Mick F wrote:Well done Si!

Except that you should've brought him down here. We have slugs a-plenty, but zero hedgehogs, we never see them locally. I often wonder why.

I think slugs = slug pellets = a horrible, lingering death for hedgehogs.

Ziggy · Post by **Ziggy** » 23 Oct 2008, 4:28pm

I remember a few years ago when I was a postman. I came across a frog trying to get to the other side of the road. It refused to be rescued. I picked it up and it managed to jump out of my hands back onto the road. I managed to get it off the road and into an overgrown garden with a wall so it couldn't get back into the path of traffic. I've always refered to it as deathwish frog.

The down side to the story is a few weeks later I'm on a different delivery and I'm walking along the path in the middle of Newcastle only to feel a crunch and a croak underfoot. I felt so guilty I didn't put it out of its misery, I walked off quickly.

bikely-challenged · Post by **bikely-challenged** » 23 Oct 2008, 4:45pm

Bless all those who rescue animals in trouble.

Does anyone else remember that anti-litter public information film from the '70's where a little wild creature (vole?) was trapped in a milk bottle? It was horrible. :cry:

dodger · Post by **dodger** » 23 Oct 2008, 5:54pm

Si,
Today is gale-force winds and lashing rain in God's own County, but tomorrow bright sunshine for sure. I've taken the day off so it will be beautiful.

jan19 · Post by **jan19** » 23 Oct 2008, 6:08pm

I wish we had hedgehogs here - my girls have never seen one (and they're 21 and 18!). :oops:

On the bright side, my Mum in Chichester now has a resident hedgehog - a big solid guy who resembles a giant guinea pig who does his "rounds" every evening. She's lived there for 11 years and this is the first one.

I don't use slug pellets - I have a small pond with an army of very keen frogs! If they don't work, I simply don't grow the plant.

Jan

ferrit worrier · Post by **ferrit worrier** » 23 Oct 2008, 6:54pm

Somtimes animals can be stubborn things, a few years ago I was taking a group of people round one of the mines at Alderley Edge when we spotted a tiny fild mouse in the corner of a passage, the little feller was no bigger than the last joint on my thumb and about 100yds from the adit. we managed to catch him / her and I popped him in the top pocket of my boiler suit told every one to wait and went off to the entrance, got outside and walked about 50 yds up the track, gently got the little thing out and placed him on the floor, as soon as I opend my hand he was off like an exocet missile, whoosh gone, strait back into the mine. I have never seen anything so small move so fast. still we tried

Manx Cat · Post by **Manx Cat** » 23 Oct 2008, 10:24pm

Although I was very tempted to stick him in my rack top bag and take him to my allotment to eat some slugs!

Ah, but think of the fleas you saved your ruck sack from Si! If you need a slug muncher get your self a duck, they LOVE em..

Jan, Im so sorry your lasses have never had the opportunity to see a real live hudgeig. That is a real shame, we have loads of them here... All tailess as well! :lol:

They are lovely and snuffly, I do love a hudgeig.

Ive never been a gardener, at our old cottage I kept ducks and hens who destroyed a lot of gardening effort, what they didnt damage, the ferral sheep ate, so Ive never used bait at least. But, Im afraid to say, that I am a certified r.a.t. killer. (sorry if you happen to have one as a pet.....)

Mary

unknown · Post by **unknown** » 23 Oct 2008, 11:07pm

ferrit worrier wrote:Somtimes animals can be stubborn things, a few years ago I was taking a group of people round one of the mines at Alderley Edge when we spotted a tiny fild mouse in the corner of a passage, the little feller was no bigger than the last joint on my thumb and about 100yds from the adit. we managed to catch him / her and I popped him in the top pocket of my boiler suit told every one to wait and went off to the entrance, got outside and walked about 50 yds up the track, gently got the little thing out and placed him on the floor, as soon as I opend my hand he was off like an exocet missile, whoosh gone, strait back into the mine. I have never seen anything so small move so fast. still we tried

i had no idea there were mines at Alderly Edge. Are they open to the public?

pigman · Post by **pigman** » 24 Oct 2008, 8:48am

dodger wrote:Si,
Today is gale-force winds and lashing rain in God's own County,

how do you know whats happening in yorkshire?

The demise of the hedgehog could be linked to the increase in foxes and the protection of badgers. Both feast on hedgehog and apparently the fox has the ability to unroll Hedgie.

Post by **Mick F** » 24 Oct 2008, 8:57am

We're surrounded by all sorts of wildlife - foxes and badgers galore.

But our lack of hedgehogs is something different. Maybe the acidity of the soil or the warm/mild micro climate of the valley. There's no shortage of food for them - but perhaps it doesn't taste right!

Do hedgehogs have a particular environment they prefer?
Is it worth us "importing" some?
Any experts out there?