Wednesday August 22

Whilst I was slaving away at work this afternoon, Lyn glanced out of the kitchen window and did a double-take. For there on the lawn, for the first time in at least five years, was a Hedgehog.

Hedgehog

In previous posts I have lamented the decline in numbers of our local Hedehogs. For the first few years from our arrival in 2004 we would see them almost every year. On one occasion two were having a Hedgehog stand-off in the back garden with much angry snorting. But since about 2010 nothing, other than the odd flattened corpse. Even the dead ones were dying-out!

I suppose it could be a concern that it is out at in daylight, but with rain forecast tonight it could be quids in slug-wise.

As for me, I have trapped the odd moth in the bathroom, but nothing that was new. The full tally is as follows: one Square-spot Rustic, three Double-striped Pugs, and one Agriphila geniculea.

My sexton beetle (trapped at the weekend) has been confirmed as N investigator. I keep forgetting how to spell the latin name that the N is an abbreviation of.

So tonight the trap goes out again. I hope the Hedgehog doesn't develop a taste for moths, although it's welcome to the wasps.