Hedgehog!

Over my holiday in the New Forest, I put out my only Trail camera in our holiday cottage's back garden, (See here for why only one trail cam), and I found something that I would always love to see in my garden; a hedgehog.

Hedgehogs are sadly in decline because of hedgehog-proof garden fences and tidy spaces. That is bad news for gardeners because hedgehogs eat slugs! I hope that I may one day have one in my garden patch.

Updated to add this link (see here) to log hedgehogs and learn more about them.

Brownsea Island - red squirrels

On Monday we went to Brownsea Island, the place to see red squirrels. I had looked forward to it for a long time (see here) and when I got there, I was amazed how many red squirrels live there.

Red squirrels are smaller than the greys

The red squirrel is a native mammal, unlike the larger alien greys. Sadly the greys have squeezed out most of the red squirrels population and very few places have the reds.

New Forest - Fungi

I arrived at the New Forest yesterday and we have already gone on a walk. I have found some really cool looking fungi and I would like to share them with you. Here are a few...

I hope I see more fungi in the future.

Mouse trapped!

In the garden we have bird feeders. Garden birds do regularly visit and we sometimes get mice. But this recent encounter with a mouse was quite strange.

Somehow a mouse managed to get in the tub where we store the food. It was empty, so my mum went to refill the tub. She was surprised to find a mouse sleeping in the plastic pot that we use to scoop out the bird feed. At first we thought it was dead. But after we opened the lid, the mouse woke up and started to try to get out.

Mouse in a tub

This mouse was quite plump and round, so it wasn't very athletic and once it did manage to escape, it didn't move that fast to safety. I hope it soon runs off the excess fat.

Looking forward to the New Forest

From this Friday, I will be on holiday in the New Forest! I am hoping to find some amazing wildlife and some fantastic places.

I have high hopes of seeing some red squirrels on Brownsea Island. In England, Red squirrels are rarer than America's alien grey squirrels and the greys have wiped out most of the red squirrel population. I have only seen red squirrels at the local wildlife education centre, the British Wildlife Centre.

This was taken at the BWC

I am also looking forward to the wild horses, spoonbills and other wildlife that I may find.

Dining Spider

Last post I did was about a spider, (more on that here), and today, I found the same spider with a large wrapped up insect.

spider with a large wrapped up insect

This spider is a garden orb spider found in the garden patch.

Spiders

When I came back from school I found this garden orb spider in the garden patch:

Garden orb spiders are my favourite spider species. There are lots of them around now. If you look carefully, you can see the silk being spun.