As I told you recently, I got a little bit lost at some point last year and personal posts were getting harder to fit in on the blog with other things I’d committed to. I’d loved writing posts for PODCast and the What’s The Story? linky but my computer with all my photos died and before I knew it, each Monday had passed and I’d forgotten/hadn’t had time to write a post, again. So anyway, concerted effort being made, photos retrieved (thank god!) and it will give me a good excuse to relive some old memories.
So I thought I’d go through my old photos, one folder at a time, and see what I could find. There he was, Prickles the Hedgehog! I’d forgotten all about him (may be she – who knows!).
This photo was taken in our back garden in August 2009. In those days I had two very old cats, Monty and Roxy, and they had a little ‘cat kennel’ in the garden so they could shelter from the rain if I’d gone out and they were outside. They’d used the kennel a lot over the years, but now they were old, they spent more and more time indoors, the kennel had seen better days and I’d seriously considered dismantling it.
I was out in the garden when I noticed some movement out of the corner of my eye. The cats were both inside fast asleep, what had I seen? I turned around to find Prickles the Hedgehog in the cat kennel. He/she was a fairly frequent visitor to our garden and was obviously feeling brave enough to come right up to the patio doors to have a nosy around in the kennel.
I know hedgehogs are covered in fleas and ticks, but there is something adorable about them. To me anyway. I’ve always been a fan, and have been used to seeing these little animals wandering around my gardens over the years.
By 2012, the last of my two saggy old cats had died and the kennel really wasn’t fit for purpose any more. It fell apart and was thrown away. Monkey and I did build a makeshift Hedgehog house last year, but we haven’t had a visit from Prickles the Hedgehog for a number of years now. I miss him wandering around our garden. Our cat Brewster loves the rain and I don’t think he’d use a kennel at all, so I think we might have to buy a proper Hedgehog house this year and see if we can entice Prickles back into our garden.
When I started to write this post, I’d expected to use a family or travel photo, but this photo brought back happy memories of our prickly friend and of a time when I had two saggy old cats, so I’ll be linking this up with Animal Tales over at Eco-Gites of Lenault on Tuesday too.
Do you have hedgehogs visiting your garden?
I’d love to see a hedgehog visiting our garden, but I doubt one would as Lola would probably scare them away before they even got close.
Yes you’re probably right about that!
I remember seeing a hedgehog in our garden as a child-they are lovely aren’t they, despite the fleas etc. I don’t think we have any in our garden now but we have log piles (all deliberately placed, honestly…) around the garden anyway, just in case. I hope you get to see him/her come back again x
Fingers crossed, I’m def getting a hedgehog house this year.
I have loved hedgehogs since I was a kid, its a real shame there are so few of them about now. we found one under our summer house when we took the old one down, we build a hedgehog house in case he wanted to come back, but I haven’t seen him!
It is isn’t it. They used to be everywhere didn’t they
What a sweet little hedgehog. My daughter is always on the lookout for hedgehogs in our garden. Maybe one day. #whatsthestory
Fingers crossed, they used to be everywhere.
We have a prickles in our garden too, I think it is because our cat lives in her own little house in the porch and the hedgehogs come by in the evening to check out what’s for dinner. Lovely story!
Yes I think I’ll put some cat food out later in the year to see if we can attract one back again.
I haven’t seen one yet and sadly we don’t have a garden. But in my in-laws they have a massive garden and some logs where they can hide. Mother-in-law said they have one and now I am curious to see him =)
They are lovely but probably hibernating at the moment
Oh Sweet!
Unfortunately, there are no hedgehogs (apart from Regents park) left in London – I would love one to visit us!
That’s so sad, they used to be commonplace everywhere when I was a kid.
How lovely. I am also a huge fan of hedgehogs, we used to have a regular garden visitor too but I haven’t seen him for years. You just don’t see hedgehogs so much these days do you? Lovely post.xx
No, and it’s really sad. It was the norm to see them when I was a child
You had a hedgehog visit the cat kennel. Now you’ve built a hedgehog home I wonder who will visit?
Lol – hadn’t thought of it like that! Could I ask for frogs? My son is so desperate for frogs to come to our make shift pond
Yes and thanks for reminding me! We called him “Hedgie”, he used to visit us often a few years ago. Until we found him trapped inside one of our bins, though it’s still a mystery how he managed to get in there because my husband always makes sure that our bins are well-sealed. Haven’t seen Hedgie in awhile though. #animaltales.
I haven’t seen any round here for at least a year – doesn’t bode well does it
What a sweet story! I love that we have a garden that wildlife visits, we often have ducks and the like wandering around. I am not so keen on the moles which have taken up residence at the moment though and we need to find a way of getting them to move on before they completely destroy the place!
Good luck with the moles – that could be a tricky problem.
We used to have a hedgehog that came to our house when I was a child – it would squeak for some cat food so got called Squeaker. We do see them round here from time to time but never actually on the smallholding.
Many thanks for joining up with #AnimalTales … by the look of the thumbnails there’s another hedgehog story this week too.
I know – two hedgehog stories in one week – happy days 🙂
What a lovely picture. I’m glad you managed to get your pictures back off your laptop. It is wonderful how a photo can bring back such strong memories.
It really is, forgotten memories
I’ve never seen a hedgehog in our garden, but I would love to. Keep thinking about buying one of those little houses for them.
I’m going to have to get one, our homemade one really didn’t last too long
Aww what a lovely looking hedgehog – I have to admit I love seeing a hedgehog visiting.
I wish he’d come back
Yes this is my thinking with Whats the story linky, I want to use old photo’s, it’s nice to share something else about myself that isn’t current! Cute hedgehog, it’s special to see one in the garden I think and the fact that yours kept visiting for some time is lovely x #whatsthestory
It’s going to give me a lot of enjoyment going through older pre-blogging photos – just need to keep doing it!
My dog goes crazy over hedgehogs – howling at them for some reason! They are so very cute though, aren’t they? If a little prickly. So glad you managed to retrieve all your photos. What a nightmare!
Dogs and hedgehogs – not a great mix are they
Same thing happened to me a few years ago.. my computer was reformatted without my knowledge, and so everything disappeared in a snap. It was quite a heartache, but I’m fully recovered now. :>
And that hedgehog is so cute! I almost bought one before when I saw it in the pet store, but I won’t be able to give much attention to it so I put it back its cage.
It’s a nightmare isn’t it when computers go wring
What a lovely story. We like Hedgehogs and we have one that often visits the front garden. I was always surprised by how fast they actually are. Really enjoyed reading this and looking forward to your post next week x #animaltales
They are fascinating animals
Lucas says – We have a Hedgehog rescue hospital near us called Tiggywinkles and Nanny and Dad Dah often take me and my cousin Grace there for a visit. The last time we were there we saw a Hedgehog with 3 legs and it will have to stay at the hospital all the time now but it looked really happy and I thought its face was very cute. I’m going to ask the Mother to build us a Hedgehog House in our garden too. #animaltales
Keep meaning to go to Tiggywinkles, somewhere else to add to the 2015 list!
I’ve seen a couple of hedgehogs in our garden but best they don’t come now as we’ve got a dog. I do like them though.
Yes, they don’t mix well well dogs do they.