T-Shirt Weather

Can admire some things, like the Serpentine Bench, but don't think I could live with it :)
 
I'm about 20 minutes from Clun. Would quite like to have lived there but need a garage and lots of the houses don't even have off road parking. The penalty of living somewhere old an interesting!
 
Still very mild here, although it's gradually getting a bit colder. It was 7C when I got up this morning. But it is November! I saw on the internet news that one of the tabloids had a big headline about how the weather forecasters were "Warning" of colder weather gradually coming in toward the end of this week. What they were talking about was the temps dropping as low as 6C or even 5C at night, and only getting to 13 or 14 during the day. I can remember when we were kids, by Halloween, we had crisp frosty nights! Maybe not regularly, but it was certainly not unusual. And it was downright cold by this time of year. So far, I've not lit my stove at all, and only had the heating on for about two hours in the evening.
 
I found a young hedgehog out wandering in the field behind our garden yesterday afternoon. Must have been from a late second brood, only 235 grams. They have to be a minimum of 450-600 grams to survive hibernation, so the only chance for babies is to be taken in and kept warm and fed over the winter, so they go on growing and don't attempt to hibernate. Unlike the one I found recently, which had really bad fly strike, covered in eggs, this one appeared uninjured and only had two large ticks, which I successfully removed. I gave him a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel, and he quickly uncurled and spread out all 4 legs sideways so his tummy was in contact with the warmth. Later on, he became a bit more active and ate and drank and pooed.
Today I rang all the local hedgehog rescues, but all are full to bursting with youngsters at this time of year. However, one of the local vets will take in wildlife, as young hedgehogs found wandering in daylight are probably infested with lungworm or may be developing pneumonia etc, which needs poo samples, diagnosis and treatment before they can be rehabilitated over the winter. I've said that if the vet can't find a place at a rescue I will have him back once he's been treated and try to keep him going with a heat lamp etc in a brooder cage. They need a minimum of 18C to go on growing actively and not hibernate, so shall have to beg, borrow or buy some equipment, i.e. a ceramic lamp, or maybe a chick brooder. Unfortunately I've sold most of the stuff I used when rearing quails. I know that it's a very common situation in Autumn for hedgehogs, especially when the autumn has been so warm, and many die naturally, but the trouble is, having spent so much time and money feeding them all summer and setting up hibernation houses, I find it impossible to just walk by and leave a young one to its fate. I think this one could be in with a chance, being uninjured and not apparently infested with external parasites, so worth the effort, I feel.
 
Went down below freezing here one night recently - can't remember which as lots on my mind at the moment. The I heard there was to be an Indian summer - well it lasted one day! Hope the hedge hog stays healthy Marigold - 18C is quite warm.
 
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