Usually when I post a blog relating to creatures that visit our garden it is predominately birds that feature in this blog, with the occasional mention of insects, mammals, butterflies, etc. This posting is slightly different as I wanted to concentrate on the mammals that have visited our garden in this past year.
Before you get too excited about views of Foxes, Badgers or Pine Martens frolicking on our lawn I have to warn you that none of these exotic creatures have visited our garden this year. so with that in mind I will start with a mammal that I am always pleased to see in the garden, namely the prickly little Hedgehog:
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| Hedgehog rooting around our Back Garden |
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| Smile for the Camera! |
A welcome visitor because it helps keep down the slug population and also because it is cute and doesn't mind being photographed.
This one was photographed back in March and it looked quite fit and healthy after its winter hibernation. It was in our back garden, but Hedgehogs have also shown up in our front garden, whether it was the same one I don't know.
Here is a video of this Hedgehog in our back garden during the day, taken in March:
A few weeks later (in April) I caught this Hedgehog sniffing around our pond in the front garden at night:
It may be the same Hedgehog but I can't be sure; I know that in the past I have seen two Hedgehogs in the garden at the same time.
Another visitor who can be seen day or night is our resident Wood Mouse:
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| Semi-resident Wood Mouse |
We think he lives under our shed, but we only see him in the Winter & Spring months (December to April) so I would say he is semi-resident. Probably takes a long Summer break somewhere more fruitful as I tend not to put bird-seed out during the Summer and early Autumn.
Here is a video taken back in March which shows the Wood Mouse and a Chaffinch trying their best to avoid each other:
I am not sure who is scared of who? (and I don't think they know either).
The one creature that they are both scared of visits our garden day and night; it is definitely not a resident, and there are more than one of them. I am of course talking about the Domestic Cat.
We have cats who visit our front garden during the day, drinking from the pond and generally lazing around in the grass. They do occasionally show some movement when a small bird comes to the pond for a drink.
At night they tend to prefer the back garden for prowling around, like this long-haired cat:
They sometimes try to hunt down our little Wood Mouse but so far he has been lucky enough to avoid capture; in fact I saw him a few days ago:
For the first time ever (or certainly the first time I have seen it) we got a visit from the Wood Mouse's larger cousin; a Brown Rat:
That was back in May and we haven't seen it since (which Moira is pleased about). Maybe one of the cat's got it? Would probably have to be a chunky farm mouser to take down an adult Brown Rat.
Another rodent that has been visiting our garden over the last few months and has been entertaining and annoying us in equal measure is a Grey Squirrel (well two Grey Squirrels to be precise).
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| Grey Squirrel on Shed Roof |
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| Roof Runner |
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| Grey Squirrel (aka Tree Rat) |
Had it been a cute little native Red Squirrel then I would be over the moon, but alas it is its bigger non-native cousin. I don't actually hate Grey Squirrels I just don't want to encourage their spread into Red Squirrel areas. Although I don't know of any Red Squirrels near where I stay; you would probably have to go over to Devilla Forest in Fife to find the nearest population.
As I mentioned the Grey Squirrel can still be entertaining; here is one trying to get to our bird feeder on a snowy day in November:
I have tried to chase it away from the bird's feeder but it isn't really scared just looks at you then goes back to feeding, only running away when you get really close to it:
I have made a plastic shield (using an empty chicken breast container) and attached it to the feeder hanger; this seems to have the desired effect of making it awkward for the squirrel to get in and eat the seeds.
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| Squirrel Guard |
The Squirrels are not visiting our garden very often now; in fact the last time one visited it fed on the Sycamore seeds that have blown in from an adjacent tree:
I can live with that!
Another mammal to visit our garden in 2021 was once also labelled as a rodent, but has since been reclassified as being of the family Lagomorpha (which also includes Hares and Pikas). You've guessed it, a Rabbit.............. not the rarest of creatures but the first time we have had one in our garden:
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| Rabbit in our Back Garden |
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| Brer Rabbit (not rare Rabbit) |
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| Dodgy Close-up |
It visited our garden a few times in September but we haven't seen in recently. I imagine a Fox visiting somebody else's garden might have got it?
I will leave you with one last mammalian visitor; it is not a rodent, it likes to climb trees, it is quite rare and it is the largest mammal we have had visiting our garden this last year:
It is of course..................... a Tree Surgeon................. Sorry if you were expecting some exotic wild creature (who knows, he might be?)
That's all folks!
Take Care
Teddyedward
