Spiny Norman

We have a hedgehog! Actually, I don't know if that's true as I am not sure if having a hedgehog visit your garden actually counts towards your ownership of it. A while back we had two hedgehogs who came in and shuffled around the base of the pond, where it's damp and full of slugs, and then disappeared again. At the time I couldn't figure out where they came from as we have quite an enclosed garden...that was until the day I came home to find one of them run over in the road outside. I guessed then that they had come from the park opposite and were just nocturnal visitors, out on a bit of a jolly - until the sad day when it all went horribly wrong for them and a tragic accident (leading to the running over of hedgehog number 1) ended their nighttime frolics. That was the end of the hedgehog visitors...or so we thought...

A week or so ago we were out in the kitchen and the security light went on out the back of the house - we looked out and there was a hedgehog, running round and round in circles, on our lawn. Why the running round in circles I don't know, it may be a hunting thing I guess, but I wondered if it was hedgehog Number 2, still distraught at the loss of hedgehog 1, still running round frantically, either trying to find it's mate, or just squeaking and wailing in grief.

That hedgehog came back the next night, and the next, and the next. He came back so frequently, running round in circles and setting off the security light every 5 minutes (and I'd like to take this opportunity to apologise to my neighbours on the hedgehog's behalf) that hubby started calling him Norman - after Spiny Norman don't you know! Anyway, it's funny the way your brain works sometimes (it's even funnier the way my brain works!) and somehow, I started wondering about Norman...

I was already wondering about the running around (and possible squeaking) but then I got to thinking about where Norman lives. I mean, back when they were hedgehog 1 & 2, they lived in the park, so I'm guessing Norman doesn't actually live with us, he just visits. But, and here's the mystery, how does he get into our garden at all? We have gated side access, so no entry there and we live on a hill, with walls either side of the garden. Unless Norman is about to win prizes for high jumping (can hedgehogs jump?) he's not getting over next door's fence (it's 6ft high!) or over the wall on the downhill side as the height of the wall + the change in level is definitely too much. Hubby suggested the only way he could do it, would be to jump down from the uphill side as the wall is at ground level for them and about a 3ft drop into our garden - that's definitely do-able. The thing is, he then needs to get into next door's garden so that he can do the drop down thing - and they have gated side access too. They are the end of a terrace so next door to them has no side access at all - and of course they are still on the hill, with the uphill/downhill problem thing and the same wall issue....

We thought this through....for some time. The conclusion is this - Norman is plainly very energetic. He leaves his home in the park, heads uphill for the end house, goes around the side of their house, under the gate with the convenient gap under the bottom, runs round in circles on the lawn (squeaking?), jumps down from the wall into the next garden, runs round in circles on the lawn (squeaking?), jumps down from the wall into the next garden, runs round in circles on the lawn (squeaking?), does this for 6 houses until he reaches our house where he does the same, with the added excitement of setting off the security light, then carries on down the hill, alternately jumping running and squeaking through another 10 gardens until he gets to the bottom of the hill, where he heads out of their rear access, into the lane, pops round the corner, up the pavement, across the road and back to bed for the day, too exhausted for anything else!

Of course, all this could be idle speculation and maybe Norman isn't energetic at all and just lives in the bushes at the side of our garden...what do you think?