Adult hedgehog outside my front gate in Galway in late April this year.
Despite growing up on a farm, I have no recollection of seeing hedgehogs around our farmyard when I was growing up (the presence of dogs might have been a factor). I’d occasionally see one scurrying about while driving somewhere, and of course, there would quite a few dead ones on the side of the road (the intersection of cars and hedgehogs has only one outcome).
Now that I live in Galway city, I hadn’t expected to see much wildlife in my back garden (apart from birds), but last year, I received a couple of surprise visitors. I had walked to the end of my back garden on a warm summer night just to take in the air, when I heard an odd noise coming from the bird feeding station I’ve set up. I didn’t think that birds would still be feeding in the darkness, but I suspected a mouse or rat was paying a visit instead (wouldn’t be the first time). Instead, it was two baby hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus / gráinneog), lured in by the scent of free food (there is usually a good scattering of sunflower seeds, dropped by the feeding birds).
So I set up a trailcam to record their comings and goings during (and since) last summer. A trailcam is a motion-activated outdoor camera that is capable of taking both normal photos and video as well as infrared images (which show up as black and white). I’ll post a bit more about it later, but for now, here is the movie of the hedgehogs (so far).