[John]

Apparently hedgehogs and other wildlife are suffering dehydration in this exceptionally warm and dry weather. In case you didn't know, hedgehogs eat loads of slugs and are the gardener's friend.
So return the favour and leave a bowl of water on your plot and in your garden.
Even if you don't think you have a hedgehog around, you may well do because they are nocturnal and shy creatures.

[king cauli]

:shock: not bad eating too best to keep em watered,nothing worse than dry hedgehog meat :cry:

[king cauli]

doyou farm the hedehogs for food or pets john?only this is in grow ya own sorry

[Zak the Rabbit]

you may not see your local ditchpig, but it is easy to see if you have them - my lawn is covered in hodgeheg scats

I think they live in the pile of dead laylandii branches in my neighbours garden, which, along with the hole in my kitchen wall where the mason bees are living is one of my 'instant nature reserves'

mind you, the one that started sniffing around my toes when i was out stargazing scared the hell out of me!

[crowndale]

Baked hedge hog is supposed to be good, and in this weather they may well come prebaked for us!  I have a small population around us, we back onto a wooded area that surrounds the local rec, but with three cats and a dog few venture into our garden.

On another note, took a look at your blog zak, brill photos, wish I could get such clear shots.  I have a camera capable of it but seem to lack the skill!  Anyway, greenhouses.  I had a polycarbonate covered one at my last house.  I know they are better for small people if they get run into but I found the plastic sheets got blown out by every moderately bad wind that came along, mind you in east yorks we get a lot of moderately bad wind!  And it may have been the design of the greenhouse at fault.  I have a few plastic panels in my mainly glass green house now (inherited from previous house owner) and they stay in fine with the normal greenhouse clips, but the one specifically designed as a plastic greenhouse sort of slid into channels, a bit like paper into those binders, and they weren't as secure.  would be worth checking out the design of each greenhouse before spending hard cash on one and to make sure it's in a very sheltered part of the garden, mine wasn't which probably didn't help much!

[Zak the Rabbit]

thanks for the blog comments!  taking decent photos isnt too hard (especially with digital), you just need to follow a few simple rules. Remember that when in a 'macro' mode, the shutter speed is usually very slow, so the camera needs to be kept very steady - use a tripod! I learnt using a real SLR and photography is one of my hobbies.

The greenhouse is going in a fairly sheltered spot, but safety was more important in choosing.

Make sure you put plenty of clay around your hedgehog before baking, it takes the spines off


rich "there tasty, red indians eat them you know"
eddie " i bet thats why they say 'how!' all the time.. 'how! the bl@#dy hell are we meant to eat that spikey hedgehog!!!, Mrs Sittingbull?"
-bottom

[Aunt Sally]

Thanks for that John, I hadn't thought of leaving water available on the lottie (do at home).  I'll put a dishout next time I'm there :!:

[Zak the Rabbit]

on a serious note - please do not leave milk out for them - its very bad for them. Put out a shallow bowl of water and if you want to feed them use a tin of cheep dogmeat

we have a number of hedgehogs here at work, i see them when i walk around the site on nights. I might 'import' a few into my garden.

[purplebat]

:shock: not bad eating too best to keep em watered,nothing worse than dry hedgehog meat :cry:

 :shock:  :shock:  :shock:  :shock:

[hermon]

as for cooking them i think gypsies cooked them intact and then the skin could just peel off

[Zak the Rabbit]

as for cooking them i think gypsies cooked them intact and then the skin could just peel off

thats right, they would coat them in clay or mud (which also stopped them burning) and when the mud was broken off it took the skin and spines with it

[John]

For goodness sake - I start a thread about helping our little friends and you load of ravaging carnivores start discussing the best way to eat them!

You're a cruel, heartless lot

[Ice]

      Sorry John, I'm kinda horrified too, but as a trainee chef also kinda intrigued.

[crowndale]

I wouldn't really eat one john, any more than I would have eaten a dog at one of the many dog restraunts in china!  I did once have baby duck soup though, the baby duck came complete in it's shell and was cracked open into the soup, shame because it smelt great but all those spikey little tufts of prefeathers and the head and feet kind of put me off actually tasting it!  

[Zak the Rabbit]

hedgehogs ok, not as good as squirrel

i had 'squirrel au van'

although, actually it wasnt a van, it were a 4tonne truck