Wednesday 20 November 2013

AWI and House guests.

A pause from eating biscuits.This Little lot will end up as part of a wargame for Michel´s  son (Michel´s Miniaturen) for which he´s built this excellent Fort.
First up a Group of Airfix British Grenadiers, 42 years on  and still finding a use.
Close up. The officers nag has been replaced...
Some Zvezda Russian Artillery of Peter the Great painted as american artillery. Not 100% historically correct but  fine for wargaming.
Manning a gun (pinched from the Bodstonian artillery!!)
Lords (Officers) and ladies
These ladies are from Strelets Court and Army of Peter I
And now the house guests. 4 hedgehogs :-D It was weighing day so I though I´d take some pics.

This one we found running about near a busy road during the day. He was covered in ticks and wounds. Weighing only 180gm´s, toes missing on every foot, the sole of one foot shredded,  half the tip of his nose, cut on his left ear and three large cuts on his Body,  in which there were maggots. What had happened to him? Maybe a Motorscythe? A lawn mower?
He was pretty Close to death and The local hedgehog protection People took him in,  looked after him for two weeks and now he`s completely healed (except a small wound on his ear) and weighs nearly 600 gm´s.
Another male, who like his friends, is too small to survive outside through the winter. Even though we´ve got (created) a hedgehog friendly garden, there is not enough naturally occuring food at this time of year for them to gain enough weight for thier winter sleep.
A Female
Another female. when we found her she weighed 290 grams but now she weighs 390gm´s.
Sadly, because we can´t look after all 4, due to lack of space and the feeding costs,  she has gone to another carer.

It´s a bit of work looking after them, cleaning their "pens" out, making up the correct food for them but IMHO, well worth it :-D
If anyone finds one that needs caring for, this site Pro-Igel (the link is the english Version) is a Goldmine of info. For instance, Do you know wether hedgehogs are Born with or without spines ? :-D

41 comments:

  1. Excellent work Paul!
    But, the hedgehogs...I love these animals! :)

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    1. Thanks.
      They are great Little animals...but they are eating us out of house and home. Everyday they eat over 200 gms of ready made Food, them some pieces of pear, banana, apple, Grapes!!!It never Ends :-D

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  2. Great looking troops...and hedgehogs!

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  3. Those British Grenadiers look superb Paul.

    Great to see you're an animal lover too, good on you !

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  4. airfix mes premieres figurines

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  5. airfix ,mes premieres figurines..
    beau travail

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  6. I second Thanos !!!
    I've forgotten the figs when you told us the Hedgehogs Story !
    Lovely animals, sometimes I saw some in my garden but it's rare.
    I know that some are or pass in it because of the "droppings" they let on the ground.

    and for the question: without spines!

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    1. Thanks Pascal.
      Without spines on the outside ;-D We´ve made piles of Wood etc for Hedghogs in the garden and at this time of year chack everynight for any. If they are big enough then they stay outside. This year three of them came from our garden alone.

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  7. Lovely work on the Bods and a happy ending for the bushpigs too! What more could you ask for?

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    1. Thanks Michael. Bushpigs is what i call them as well, that or spuggies :-D

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  8. Good work, on and off the painting table.

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  9. Great figures, but I really like the hedgehogs, wish we had something like them here in the states!

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    1. Thanks. No Hedgehogs in the states? I never knew that .

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  10. Hedgehog born with spikes, they are soft long-time
    Suitable for cat foods, raw and ripe fish
    No salt, no milk

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    1. Right and wrong. They are Born with Spikes but they are inside their Skin and they slowly "pump" them up over 3-4 days. I´d be carefull about feeding them fish.It can go bad very quickly and then the likelyhood of Salmonella.

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  11. I always knew you and your family have a hart of gold! Taking care of these cute animals tells it all!
    Great work also on these oldies and others for Michel's son Paul!

    Greetings
    Peter

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    1. Thanks Peter. My wife sometimes complains when I bring animals back that Need caring for, but she wouldn´t stop it. If I was to make a list of all the birds and animals we#ve looked after it would be very Long. Maybe I should put up a Video I made of Hand feeding some "tame" field mice :-D

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  12. I always loved the British Grenadiers box! - How nicely you have painted them makes me drool all over my keyboard!!

    I have a soft spot for our prickly friends too! - and its not on my belly! ;-D

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  13. Great looking figures and well done saving the poor hedgehog!

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  14. You're a decent human being Paul, good man!

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  15. we had 3 years in a row hedgehogs for winter guest....very cute indeed but hey...they eat meat what meansit will stink massively each day ;) so find them a well place ...

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    1. At the Moment they are in our wintergarden until they get big enough to go outside in specially made pens in the Garage. They do smell a bit but worse than meat is giving them bananas to eat...then they really make a smell :-D

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  16. Fantastic Airfix chaps and a positive hedgepig situation.

    The fort is splendid too.That is a lucky boy...

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  17. Nice figurines and well painted for a small scale like this.

    Greetings

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  18. Thanks Andrew.
    Hopefully they will get big enough soon to go out into the Garage pens...they do smell a wee bit :-D

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  19. Nice Grenadiers (still fighting after 40 years..), and nice hedgehog too, I like them so much!

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  20. Always an education Paul. Those Airfix figures look great. I had a similar idea of using Zvezda Swedish Artillery.

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  21. Nice work on the figures, but this time the hedgehogs are the eye catchers of your post. It's great that you spend your time and money to care for those little beeings.
    You're a good man Paul !

    Cheers
    Stefan

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  22. great work on those bods Paul but more importantly great to see someone is out there fore the hedgehogs. they are so cute so its good to see that injured ones have a place to go to get better.

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  23. Sterling work on the grenadiers. I always thought them some of the ugliest figures ever made but you have done wonders with them!

    Love your hedgehogs. We have a regular in our garden who always livens up summer evenings with an amazing amount of snorting, growling and rustling!

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  24. Thanks all. :-D Today was the annual hedgehog fund raising Event at the local animal rescue centre...which nearly ended with me bringing home two cats that had just been rescued from a bad owner.

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