Mysterious Encounter Upon the Lawn

Last night when I went out to bring in a garbage bin, I heard a strange rustling sound behind me on the lawn.

I turned and saw a lump sitting on the grass and assumed it was one of the stray cats in the area that likes to poop in our boxwoods.

Feeling like I could actually do something to prevent a clandestine scat session I approached the lump and watched as part of it broke off and scuttled into the hedge.

What remained behind seemed to be an improbably large mound of poo.

As I got closer I leaned down and saw that it was actually a hedgehog.

I had never seen one out and about before and I was excited by the discovery.

I ran into the house to tell Nick and his mum but they didn't seem as thrilled as me.

I went back out onto the lawn and saw that the lump was gone. I heard a scratching noise behind me and saw it scurrying toward one of the other natural areas.

I followed it and it proceeded to employ its defense mechanism which was to freeze and pretend to be part of the landscape.

I couldn't resist the urge to poke gently at its spikes. It responded by blinking a couple of times and stoically maintaining its posture.

I saw a captive hedgehog in a pet store once and the same need to poke at it had overtaken me then.The end result was me getting my finger nipped. It didn't break the skin but it did give me a mild case of hurt feelings.

I decided to leave the creature alone and let it get about its business. I bid it goodnight and returned to the house.