As I've mentioned before, at Bellecrosshens we garden very much with wildlife in mind working with nature rather than against.
As a result we have an abundance of birds, insects and animals either residing or visiting the garden.
For a while now we've been aware of the presence of hedgehogs visiting over night, we've heard them snuffling and rustling about in the under growth, seen their droppings on the grass and even caught them on the trail cam.
A couple of nights ago when I went to check on the hens I startled one as I caught it in the beam of the torchlight
Hedgehogs will travel quite a distance overnight covering many gardens so we were never sure if they were living in our garden or just passing through.
Today as I was tidying one of the flower boarders I found a larger than usual pile of leaves under the sweet chestnut tree, I had my suspicions, so very gently moved a few of the leaves aside- there fast a sleep was a hedgehog. I quickly covered it back up and left it hopefully undisturbed.
