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Littleham's Heron

Video courtesy of Ian Mitchell

Woodpecker Feeding Young - Somewhere in the Parish - May 2015

Adult feeding baby 'Woody'. A greedy young thing getting through loads of fatballs and nuts. It might be too fat to get out of the hole!

Woody's family. Hasn't left home yet! With Mum and Dad seeing to his every need, why should he?

Photos courtesy of John and Christina Smith

Picture of a humming bird hawkmoth which was taken by the last visitor to the Cottage on the velerian

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HEDGEHOG ALERT!

Our hedgehogs need help!  Below is a photo of 'Sam' the hedgehog. She was seen visiting our garden, with an adult hedgehog (probably her mum) one evening eating food that had been put down for birds and some hedgehog food (it would be nice to think that some slugs were on the menu too!). I thought that she looked very small to be around at this time of the year, and on advice from the National Society for the Protection of Hedgehogs I got in touch with 'Anni' who is our N Devon volunteer rescuer. Anni advised me to catch Samm(as she has since been named), weigh her, and if less than 600g she would need to be overwintered or she would not survive.

I managed to catch her, and here she is:               Isn't she cute?

Sam weighed in at 300g, so will need to be overwintered with some TLC and food to give her a fighting chance of survival until the spring. At the moment she is staying with Anni. However, this year has resulted in many baby hedgehogs being born too late, and she has twice the number she can cope with, but it's hard for her to turn them away. So this is how you can help.

If you are able to look out when it's dark, especially around bird feeding areas, you may spot small hedgehogs like Sam. She is about 4-5" long. If you can catch them and weigh them you can then see if they will be able to see the winter through. You can get more information at www.northdevonhedgehogrescue.org

Anni is desparately looking for HELP. If you think you could help in some way, especially if you have some space in an outhouse in a suitable hutch or similar, please contact Anni at the above link. She would also be grateful for the following items:

HAND TOWELS (not threadbare)   *   CLEAN NEWSPAPERS   *    MEAT BASED CAT FOOD (no fish) wet or dry  *    DRIED MEALWORMS

Anni gets no funding for her work to help these creatures. They do so much good in our gardens. Any small help will support their survival. They will be soon going into hibernation, if they haven't already done so. Put a little food out for them and keep a lookout (they will appear when it's dark around 20.00 - midnight). Probably moving around throughout the night, but you have to be a serious 'night-owl' to catch them then!

We'd love to hear from you if you see any.

Wildlife Videos From around the Parishes

                 Littleham's heron stalking fish in Ian's fishpond

Green Woodpecker feeding young in Church Lane

Swallow Chick in the wood shed of a garden in Littleham.

Otters Feeding at Beam Weir

Salmon leaping at Beam Weir

Wild Flowers in North Devon

                          

On the cliffs at Hartland

                            Heron

Early summer on Braunton Burrows