Unfortunately, due to the fact that hedgehogs are nocturnal, I didn’t have the opportunity to photograph them in their natural habitat. The presented photos of the hedgehog were taken after I released it from a trap set for a marten, which in fact had been looming large in my mind for a long time. The trap was effective for hedgehogs and cats but not for a marten. The man who sold it didn’t have the appropriate knowledge of the specific anatomical features of the marten. The trap had an egg in its central part which served as the bait. The placement where the egg laid worked as the pawl but it wasn’t effective for big animals like martens. In most cases it ate the egg and escaped unhurt from the cage. I tried many different humanitarian methods but never succeeded. The temporal solution turned out to be the disposal of other predator’s feces. Maybe it wasn’t the most esthetic method, yet effective way for only a couple of months. For fear of confrontation with other predator, it changed its territory for a while. But the best way to get rid of this marten was to move the roof, disinfect it and cover the holes. That is how a marten helped me to photograph a hedgehog.

Last minute news -10/2013

Taking a picture of a hedgehog in its natural environment seems to be as difficult as those of a badger. Hedgehogs are nocturnal animals and it is hard to come across them during the day when it is high light which is a critical issue with photographing animals. A few pictures I have published were taken by courtesy of good-hearted people, who run a hospital/shelter for hedgehogs that for some reasons would not manage to survive in their natural environment and needed some help. So hedgehogs you can see here are wild animals, but they are under care of Polish Hedgehog Protection Society – „Our Hedgehogs” in Solec Kujawski.