On discovering we had a hedgehog, I set about researching feeding stations with a view to building one. Several sites mentioned baffles to stop felines snitching hedgehog food. I know how small a hole out cats can squeeze through, and immediately designed my hedgehog feeding station with baffles.
Firstly, what is a baffle? Apart from confusion, it is also an obstruction to restrict flow of a fluid. In our case, a sinuous feline.
Here is what baffles look like in my home built hedgehog feeding station - which only took two hours to knock up out of 150x15mm gravel board, and a bit of left over roofing felt. NOTE the feeding station in the first photos is upside down. I do not have a base, simply plonking the feeding station on what I laughingly call a lawn. There is no mess to clean up, as I simply move it around every week or so.
These dishes are produced by RSPB. I found them in our local Pets at Home for £4 each. Bargain. NOTE, now that it has finally stopped raining, one of the dishes will be filled with water. Though I do have a pond, and there are woods behind us where there are a couple of large ponds, so the hog will not do without water.
Let's start with the local ruffian, a neighbour's cat which is a bit of a thug. Without the baffles it could easily reach any hog food.
Still not convinced? First some photos of the hedgehog going through the hole I cut in our side gate.
Now the ruffian
Oops, my cut and paste went a bit wry.
Now one of our cats, who is smaller than the local ruffian.
And now the other way
T'was nothing, she says.
Hmm, can't seem to edit my own post.
The gravel board I used was 150mm x 25mm. Not the size I had in my original post. I've been doing a bit of plumbing, so have 15mm pipes on my mind.
I also bought the gravel boards from a local timber merchants, in my case Beaumont forestry. Cheaper than the DIY superstores and better quality. The boards have been pressure treated, but with the safe preservative. I should hope so, seeing as I made my raised veg beds out of them.
After all of above, I realised I haven't shown our hog actually using its feeder. Plus, another reason for baffles.
In addition to bird and hog feeder, I have a messy garden. Lots of leaves from oak and birch trees in borders. Logs lying around from when I pollarded the birch trees. And the pond, some 1.3 square metres - complete with frogs and Great Crested newt!
I also put a trail cam inside the feeder, but the thing had a great deal of difficulty focusing. This is an Apeman trail cam, which isn't brilliant at stills, though its videos aren't bad. I might put my ancient Victure trail cam in, which does better with close ups. I hadn't used it for some time as I thought its PIR had stopped. Not so, it needs a goodly amount of charge in the batteries i.e. better than about 15%.
Now, the unwelcome visitor.