A new Garden worry for me!
At work today I was trying to tidy-up a tree that produces loads of suckers plus low-level shoots and it does look an awful mess now.
The only way to do this is manually and lucky I did too.
It takes rather longer than I thought but if you do a job right you expect that but anyway, there I was after nearly two hours, on my hands and knees pulling out debris, leaves and twigs when suddenly I see four little pink things and they're moving!
It was a baby hedgehog and I had pulled it out of what was obviously a nest where he / she and his / her brother / sister were hidden.
I'm not kidding when I say these babies were tiny, they were about the size of a small nail brush - looked liked one too - about 4 inches long and the spines are white but black at the roots and those little pink feet....
Putting the one I had disturbed carefully back in the nest I noticed that its eyes are still closed and so 's the other one's eyes - They are THAT young!
I placed it back where I'd disturbed it and watched it snuggle back down with its sibling - so cute!
Of course I had to replace all the "bedding" around them and make sure I hadn't hurt them - difficult when they are so small but they seemed fine.
I've piled twigs, leaves and dry moss back around them and left a tunnel of sorts into the nest for Mum but now I'm worried in case she doesn't come back to feed them.
I won't sleep well tonight - I know that!
In 2012 it was a baby stoat I found around the back and in 2011 a deer!
The stoat was fine once I wrapped him up in dry moss etc. and left him under the conifer hedge - saw him three days later, with Mum - I'll swear she brought him out for me to see he was OK!
The deer was difficult as it was so nervous of humans.
I left a bowl of water for it but in the end I had to lay on the grass for quite a while trying to coax it to drink, which it did eventually - the traffic noise made it hard.
I got it to follow me after a while but it bolted as we got to the road but luckily it got over safely.
Last year a doe came into the garden - I did wonder if it was the same animal because it didn't leg-it when I went out. stevmk2