Denzil

Hedgehog in broad daylight

This was a surprise when I looked out of my kitchen window!

My local hedgehog sleeps by day in his little hedgehog house in my garden and generally appears just after sunset. But today for some reason he was out and about at 5 pm.

Hedgehog
Shouldn’t you be curled up and asleep?

Although hedgehogs are nocturnal, apparently it is not uncommon for hedgehogs to be active during the day, particularly during the summer months or in areas with a high human population.

I did some research to find out reasons why a hedgehog may be out during the day:

  • Foraging: Hedgehogs are opportunistic feeders and will take advantage of any available food source. If a hedgehog is hungry or has been disturbed during the night, it may continue to forage during the day.
  • Mating: Hedgehogs are known to mate during the day, particularly in the early morning or late afternoon.
  • Temperature regulation: Hedgehogs are able to regulate their body temperature by seeking out warm or cool areas. If the weather is particularly hot or cold, a hedgehog may be active during the day to find a suitable spot.
  • Disorientation: Sometimes, hedgehogs can become disorientated and end up out in the open during the day. This can be due to a number of factors, including illness, injury or being disturbed from their hiding place.

To be honest, I have no idea why my local hedgehog was out and about. It’s a dull day and it’s been raining all day. Maybe he got cold and hungry? I hope he’s not ill. Maybe he’s looking for a mate?

Why do hedgehogs appear in broad daylight?
This is why I think my hedgehog is a “he”

Anyway, I checked later and he had disappeared. Hopefully back into his little house.

A hedgehog house is a must for every garden
My Hedgehog AirBnb

I hope he didn’t go exploring outside the garden. We live in the centre of a small town and there are plenty of cars.

I do worry about my little spiky friend!

Hedgehog in garden
Please stay away from the roads!

Do you have a hedgehog in your garden?

34 comments

  3. Our last garden hedgehog was back in 2020. We saw/heard him daily, until .. one day we didn’t. I haven’t seen one since. We live at the edge of a village through which a main road passes …

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  5. Just like my gorse shot – hedegehogs are another deliberately introduced species that has become a pest . Haven’t seen one in my current garden, but have had previously

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  7. Porcupines are as close as we get to a hedgehog. Apparently they are common in this area, but they are nocturnal and solitary and they are a bit of a mystery. We do have a fat woodchuck (groundhog — same creature has many names) living under our hedge who comes out if we throw him celery, which he loves.

    We have big red foxes (I didn’t realize they were quite that big!), bobcats, coyotes, lots of deer, skunk, raccoons, red squirrels, big grey squirrels, and insanely cute flying squirrels. And fishers who are weasels (similar to mink). They used to be rare, but now that nobody hunts them, they like to sun themselves in the backyard. They are NOT friendly.

    And of course, birds. Woodpeckers ranging from small to huge, hawks, vultures and one eagle. LOTS of wild turkeys. Swans, geese, herons, ducks, divers — and who knows how many snapping turtles, some of which grow to hundreds of pounds in size.

    These years of drought have not been good for water-dwelling creatures. We used to have beavers and muskrats, but I have not seen any in this valley but I know there are many beavers further north.

    We don’t have bears yet, but they are coming, being pushed out by habitation loss.

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    • You do have a lot of wildlife around you Marilyn. You wonder what it was like when the first settlers came over, i.e. before they shot a lot of things into extinction.

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      • We have serious predators that kept the deer in check, for one thing. I love the deer, but we have more than the area can sustain and many of them starve in the winter. They also damage a lot of trees and encourage invasive special by NOT eating them, but instead eating the natural local vegetation. There are hopes that the cougar will be back because they are doing well in New Brunswick which, from the animal’s point of view, is Maine and part of Vermont. We see (or some people believe they see) a few here and there, but no breeding population. We urgently need to rebalance the predator-prey-plant balance.

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  10. Oh.. what a lovely surprise!! I have never seen a hedgehog here in Cyprus, so far.
    In Malta they had warning signs along the roads so they wouldn’t be run over. But how can you manage to see a small hedgehog while driving 😉

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    • I agree, it’s not easy. They either roll into a ball and stay still in the middle of the road, or scurry over but if you swerve you can still hit them.

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  11. Very sweet 😀 We really don’t see hedgehogs around here these days – maybe just as well as our suburban roads aren’t safe for them. But many years ago we found a group of four babies in our garden, very young. We assumed their mother had been run over. We gave them food and drink for a few days (following expert advice) and after about a week they left, presumably feeling a bit more ready to face the world. We missed them!

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