A spine-tingling tale...
Faint hearts beware, as a late night visit from an intrepid (and bloodthirsty) hedgehog gives Toby a bit of a fright
BUCKLAND Castle has oft been the scene of ghoulish goingson. There was the time I faceplanted into the sharp end of an apple tree – it snuck up on me while I gathered mistletoe. And who can forget when that icicle fell from the gutter down the back of my jacket? Spine chilling!
But these horrors are as nothing compared to the screech of terror that just last night punctured the air right outside our back door. As soon as I heard the squeal, I fearlessly rushed towards the hullabaloo, which must have been loud as, by the time I’d laced my boots and looked for a scarf (upstairs radiator, if you’re wondering), my teenage son had pipped me to the door.
As the portal creaked open, we were greeted by the macabre and extraordinary site of a huge hedgehog staring up at us with a devilish look in his black button eyes and the body of murdered mouse in his mandibles.
He held our gaze for a nano-second longer than was comfortable, as if to say, “I’ll be back”. Then, with the insouciance of an apex predator, he dived into the shrubbery and out of sight.
As we retreated into the house, I had mixed emotions; worry that this mousing hog would put our cat out of a job; shock that Beatrix Potter had concealed Mrs Tiggywinkle’s true nature; and surprise – who knew that hedgehogs hunted rodents? Actually, quite a few people…
According to the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, hogs have adventurous appetites, and although their mainstays are beetles, caterpillars and worms, they’ll also eat carrion, take 1
Although hedgehogs aren’t quick, they will stalk outside the entrance to their nests and they are helped by the fact that mice don’t see them as an enemy. 2
They build up their fat reserves before winter hibernation. Help by putting out shop-bought hog feed (or cat food). Never give milk or mealworms, which make them ill. frogs, raid nests for fledglings and climb up a hedge for a blackbird Eggs Benedict.
I even read of claims that farmers of old kept hedgehogs in their barns because they were more effective mousers than cats!
While I was quite sad for the rodent, I was happy for the massive hog – he is an endangered species, after all. And the square meal in his jaws would help see this super-sized carnivore through the winter. Although, as Ed wisely said, “If he’s going to hibernate here, we’re gonna need a bigger woodpile”. True.