This photo was taken after moving a pile of straw, needless to say the straw was put back and that part of the plot left undisturbed after we discovered a nest of hedgehogs until we were sure the hedgehogs had gone.

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Most baby hedgehogs are born in June or July. At birth the spines are covered in skin and look something like small pimples. A  minute or two after birth pure white spines are apparent. Gradually brown spines grow up among the white ones. About 15 days after birth the white spines are barely visible. Baby hedgehogs are born blind and do not open their eyes until they are two weeks old so it would appear that the babies that we found were less than two weeks old. At three to four weeks old the babies are able to leave the nest but often return.

The video below was taken October 2008

Hedgehogs do visit our garden but not as frequently as they used to. They tend to mop up any food left behind by the birds but also appreciate some of the mixer biscuits that we feed to our dog. They seem less fond of the hedgehog food that I bought specially from the pet shop.

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Once they have eaten they like to have a really long drink so it is important to have fresh water available.

Our hedgehogs aren’t very sociable creature and will put up a fight if another hedgehog comes along whilst they are eating.

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We also sometimes are lucky enough to spot young hoglets in the garden but on one occasion this lead to a mission of mercy. We found a young hedgehog that not only was underweight for the time of year (they need to weigh 600gms in order to hibernate successfully) but it also had a bit of a limp.

We searched the Internet for a hedgehog sanctuary eventually finding one about a 35 min drive away.

After being wormed and given a course of antibiotics the patient was fine but would have to be kept awake during winter.

Below is a video of a couple of baby hedgehogs exploring under bird feeders in our garden September 2009