It's not often you get to see a hedgehog in the middle of the day, and certainly not one who's so friendly. This wee fella has been hanging around for a few weeks. We'd catch a glimpse of him now and again late at night when the dogs were going out for that last sniff of the garden.
But today at three 'o' clock in the afternoon he decided to stop by and grab himself a tasty snack.
He seemed to be attracted by the puppy food and was happily munching away at their left overs. He wasn't a bit scared of us or the dogs or the cat. He even let us stroke his snout, and feed him mushy biscuits by hand.
We're hoping that he'll stick around for the winter as he looks quite young. His parents were most likely squished as we haven't seen any other hedgehogs around either in the day or the night, but then he could be a rebelious teenager and has taken to sneaking out of the den to live it up on our lawn. We've put out an old carrier filled with leaves and hay so if he wants somewhere to bunk down then he can. It seems that Hedgehogs only hibernate if it gets really cold or food gets scarce, so he might be a regular feature of the winter; it never gets freezing here in Devonport and being regular animal lovers we'll keep him topped up with food.
You can see how small he actually is, next to Paige's legs. Even in the throes of admiring nature she had to have her knitting handy. I swear that girl is even more addicted to knitting than I am.
Anyone else been treated to a glimpse of nature?
