Hoggies everywhere

Last night I went out to chase a cat away from the fox food. I realised that there was a hog in the feeding station as I could hear crunching. I then became aware that another hog was behind the tree. I grabbed the camera and got pictures of three hedgehogs.

Mrs Hog having a drink after feeding in the hog station.

Second hog that was in the feeding station with Mrs Hog.  I don't know if this is male or female but it is a similiar size to Mrs Hog.

This is the 3rd hog and I'm sure it's a male - he's huge!

Two hogs in the feeding station.  Pity there is no camera in there.  I might have to look into that.

Mr Hog sneezing and then rushing off to push the second hog out of the way. They are very quick when they decide to run.

Mrs Hog has left the hog house and decided to sleep elsewhere. Below is the hog house and the nest she has been tucked up in since the beginning of February 2011.

Sparrowhawks where displaying over the garden today. They circle and then fly high on the thermals. Raptors also tend to food pass but I've never been lucky enough to witness it let alone photograph it.

This a male.  You can tell by the orange/red chest feathers.

I saw the Grey Wagtails at their nesting site today at the stream close to me.

This is their nesting site.  The nest tends to be in the bank under the tree where the stream curves round. Unfortunately I cannot get pictures from the opposite side of the bank as this is private land.

The stream is clean and has brown trout in it. The banks are covered in litter that people just dump.

Won't be long.

The Blue Tit's are checking the nestbox on a daily basis.  Last year they started building the nest on 23rd March.  Due to the colder winter this year I suspect they may start later.  I managed to catch Mr and Mrs Blue Tit in the nestbox.  I suspect that the Blue Tit with the wider bands on the back of the neck is the female.  I'll know for sure once she's sitting on eggs.

The Hedgehogs are awake (well at least 2 are).  Mrs Hog has been staying during the day in the Hog House but has now decided to go walk about.  She was in there Saturday (19th). I checked the box and got hissed at.  Since then she has been visiting for food but sleeping elsewhere.

Foxes in as usual.  At least 2 visiting every night.  They don't take any notice of the hogs and even the hogs are not that bothered.

The Wagtails are still visiting. The male is in more often than the female.  That may be a result of her sitting on eggs.  Grey Wagtails have two broods each year with the first being in April.  I know roughly where the nest is but I cannot get any photo's of the actual nest.  They nest along the banks of fast flowing streams. Despite being in the middle of Crawley there is a fast flowing stream less than a minute (as the wagtail flies) away from me.

Last Friday there was a Sparrowhawk attack.  I didn't see it but there were a large number of Collard Dove feathers on the Apple Tree and one feather stuck to the trunk of the tree that clearly did not belong to the poor Collard Dove. The feather confirmed that the Sparrowhawk had attacked.

Today a Sparrowhawk was soaring above the flat.  The local Gulls were not happy and chased it off.

Unfortunately the bright sun resulted in a silhouette but shows the hawk shape and most sightings of birds of prey are with the birds high in the sky.

A lot in a week.

Activity in the garden is beginning to increase. My visiting Hedgehog is still asleep in the hog house although she did pop out for a bite to eat two evenings this week. I missed her both times on the camera as she was only coming out once a night and very early (8pm)

In the previous entry I included a picture of the male Grey Wagtail that visits each day.  In that picture he was in his winter plumage.  Below he's changing into his summer plumage. You can tell a male Grey Wagtail by the black throat feathers.

On Thursday 3rd March I noticed a second Grey Wagtail fly over the garden and call to the male.  The second bird later appeared in the garden.

This was a female Grey Wagtail.  The difference is in the throat feathers. The females throat feathers only go grey and not black like the male.  So I have both male and female Grey Wagtails visiting.  Hopefully this means that I will have baby Grey Wagtails for the third year running.

The Blue Tit's are still visiting the nestbox each day. No nest building yet.  Looking at my notes for 2010 nest building started on 23rd March.

Foxes are in as usual. They have even managed to share the food without fighting.  They have also been arriving early. Three times I went out with the food for them to find one of the foxes at the entrance to the garden waiting.  She ran away as soon as she saw me which is exactly as I want.  It is important that foxes don't associate people with food.

Flowers are beginning to appear in the garden.  There are a few snowdrops out.  There should be more but the visiting squirrel has been through my flower pots and dug them up.

On Saturday 5th March a Wren was hunting around the pots looking for insects.

Also a splash of colour turned up in the form of a Ladybird. Ladybirds are the gardeners friend as they eat aphids that harm plants.

I even have crows now visiting regularly. Historially these have ignored the garden but recently they have worked out that there is food available.

Hopefully in the next couple of weeks it should start feeling like spring.