Hedgehog conundrum

[Blib]

What's going on overnight in one of our hedgehog feeding boxes?

Our garden is a haven for all sorts of wildlife. I particularly enjoy the hedgehogs, which keep the slugs and snails at bay. I positively encourage the hogs, with nest boxes and feeding stations, along with holes in fences to enable their nighttime perambulations.

However......

For two days now, when replenishing the feeding stations, I've been met by this sight.







The feeding bowl, with some leftover food, has been covered with gravel from the base of the box.

Here's a closeup .......



The water bowl is unaffected. This has not happened in the previous four years of hedgehog/human interaction..

Does anyone know why this is occurring? Is this the work of a hedgehog? Or, is something else at play?

Thanks.

[Japveesix]

I'd be inclined to say it's a rat doing it. They have a funny habit of finding safe dry places, maybe for a nest, and then pulling in materials and backfilling to make it all more safe and cosy.

I had a huge plastic keter storage thing outside our house and over a few weeks of me not opening it a rat chewed a hole in the bottom and must have moved about 5kg at least of gravel in through the hole and piled it everywhere.

I may be wrong though so get a cheap Amazon wildlife camera to find out

[Blib]

I do hope that you're wrong. However, there's certainly rats about, as we live in the countryside, surrounded by horses and fields. Rats are definitely around.

I'll borrow a camera from a neighbour.

[moorx]

I'd agree. We have had rat issues in the past (they're still around now but less since I stopped feeding the birds) and this is the type of thing they do to the gravel we have around our rabbit enclosures.

[Blib]

Oh dear.

[Blib]

Wildlife cam confirmed that a rat was in the vicinity of the feeding box.

It's a pity as several hedgehogs were around too.

They'll just have to find their own food for a few months.

[SPR2]

This little one appeared on my grass on Monday about 11.30 in the morning.

[Frank Flowers]

Blib said:

I do hope that you're wrong. However, there's certainly rats about, as we live in the countryside, surrounded by horses and fields. Rats are definitely around.

I'll borrow a camera from a neighbour.

Any update? Was it the hedgehog?

[Mobile Chicane]

SPR2 said:

This little one appeared on my grass on Monday about 11.30 in the morning.

If it's out in daylight, it's in trouble. Catch it and get it to a rescue asap.