Hedgehogs

Hedgehogs can be elusive creatures, and often not seen, at least alive. But they are quite common around Bradley Stoke, and often visit gardens. If you look closely you might see the signs.

Occasionally you might come across a crunched up snail shell, which might be evidence of a hedgehog having a snack. Much more common though is hedgehog pooh. It is relatively easy to recognise - it is usually black in colour, and can range in size from small pellets 1-2cm long and 0.5cm wide, up to bigger efforts which look like they might have come from a cat, apart from the fact that cat poohs are usually a different colour. It looks as though the hedgehogs have been having a party in my back garden some time on Monday night/Tuesday morning, as there were multiple droppings across my back lawn.

If you want to feed hedgehogs, don't put out milk and bread (it swells in their stomachs). Instead, put out cat food, wet or dry, and a small bowl of water. Place it somewhere which you can observe from inside the house, and periodically check it. Most likely the hedgehogs won't appear until after dark, but they will sometimes appear earlier. If you put out food regularly then you can often establish a routine with the hedgehogs, as they will check each day whether there is food there for them or not. Disgruntled was particularly charmed a couple of years ago when a family of five used to turn up every day. If you look closely each hedgehog has its individual markings and features, so every hedgehog was given its own name. Disgruntled also recommends that if you have the space you build a hedgehog house so that they have somewhere to hibernate through the winter. Disgruntled did this, and for at least one winter a hedgehog was in residence. Note that although they hibernate, they do not necessarily sleep through the entire winter, and may make appearances when the weather is warmer for the odd snack. All the better for keeping the slug and snail populations down in your garden.

Toyota Prius Redux

You might have seen the adverts for the "next Toyota Prius", so Disgruntled tried to find out some information about this new model, so that he could compare it as he did before here. From the Toyota website, we find that the fuel efficiency of the next Prius is 72.4 mpg on the combined cycle, an improvement from the previous 65.7 mpg, but still lower than the VW Polo Bluemotion at 74.3 mpg. It also says that the CO2 emissions are "as low as" and "from" 89g/km, but doesn't say under what conditions - one assumes that this is under the best conditions possible, as if it uses more fuel than the VW, then the emissions are most likely to be higher. But I could be wrong here - Toyota need to clarify exactly what they mean. I still stand by my earlier conclusion - buy the VW, it is more fuel efficient and far cheaper.

Doves and Pigeons

Noted in the garden on Friday was this Stock Dove. Very similar to a woodpigeon, but a bit more fat in the body and with a thinner beak. It generally hangs around with woodpigeons to make it that bit more difficult to notice, although the lack of pink colouring on the chest, and the missing white band on the nape of the neck make it easier to distinguish.


The woodpigeon's have worked out that if there is a lack of seed in their tray, then the fat balls can be eaten if the stretch far enough out to reach them.

Pyrausta aurata

Visiting my garden this week was this tiny moth, Pyrausta aurata, which is only 1.5 cm wide. P.aurata is a moth which flies during the day and night, and has two generations a year, one from May to June, and one from July to August (see www.ukmoths.org.uk). Larvae of the moth feed on mints, including spearmint (on which the moth is pictured above), Apple Mint, Marjoram and Catmint.

Rabbit Roundabout

The Rabbit Roundabout, officially the Great Stoke Roundabout on the Winterbourne Road, has rabbits back on it at last - I sighted one this morning at around 9:15 am. They used to be easy to spot, with at times up to 14 individuals out eating on the grass. However, following some council work on the roundabout earlier in the year, when all the grass and bushes were cut back, they seemed to disappear. As rabbits, well, breed like rabbits, perhaps they might recolonise it quite quickly and provide us with something enjoyable to look at on our way home in the evening.

Nesting Coots

As the nights gently draw in, by the time it gets to 8pm most of the birds on the reserve are roosting or getting ready to roost, so there isn't a huge amount to see. Apart from the ducks, who seem to be ready to eat bread whatever time of day it is. However, on the lake near the bridge to Juniper Way a coot family has set up nest, and can be seen in the above image with a youngster sticking its head up. They seem to have managed to anchor their nest to some kind of underwater obstruction. Also heard in the area was the Green Woodpecker, probably in Webbs Wood.

The Mitsubishi tribute to Colin McRae

Disgruntled of Bradley Stoke has noticed a rally car driving around Bradley Stoke decked out as if it were Colin McRae's rally car (if anyone has a picture of it.....). The attention to detail is impressive, with all of the correct decals on the car, and McRae's and co-driver Nicky Grist's names on the rear windows. As a tribute to the late rally driver it is well done. There is just one problem. The car is a Mitsubishi Evo, and Colin McRae never drove a Mitsubishi.....

He drove factory Subaru's, Ford's and Citroen's, but never Mitsubishi. The owner probably hasn't seen this cartoon published in Autosport on the 30th August 2008 on the subject.....