O n first inspection I assumed the direction of travel was from the feeder to the bench. This turned out to be correct. The blood in the feeder and that under the bench were the two termini. There was no other trail of blood in the garden. No indication was found as to the source of the blood, i.e. no fur, feathers, prickles, bones or other remains were seen, either along the trail or elsewhere in the garden. The footprints were noticeably bloody throughout and seemed not to ‘fade’ as would happen if they were the result of stepping in blood and leaving bloody footprints. Nor was there anything to suggest an attack in the open before the victim retreated into the feeder before then taking the route outlined above. Whatever the cause of injury, it appeared to have happened in the feeder. No broken glass or other sharp object was found that could have caused a serious (or any!) injury nor was any other potential hazard found. If the cause of the bleeding was an attack of some sort the lack of other evidence such as fur, feathers or other remains was puzziling.

A trail camera was in operation throughout the night [19/20 April] and appeared to be functioning correctly with 32 short video sequences of hedgehogs and cats. Initially I thought there was no video evidence of either the victim or the result of its injury but some of the vital clips were incorrectly dated and downloaded to the wrong directory including a record [se BELOW] of what must have been the injured aanimal's final walk from the feeder to the steps and garden beyond. The hedgehog enters the feeder uninjured at about 23:24 A couple of minutes later it emerged seemingly mortally wounded.

O n the morning of my ‘discovery’ before I first noticed the blood I had turned the camera off at about 06:30 to download what I thought would be a record of the routine comings and goings of the night shift. I also checked the feeder and, finding some food remaining, opened the feeder to remove the dish and food. I am not always very observant but find it surprising that on the morning in question I must have missed the blood on the ground as well as in the feeder which I noticed 3½ hours later almost immediately I went out of the back door. Considering this at the time, and having failed to notice the blood at 06:30 I assumed that whatever sanguinary event had taken place most probably occurred between 06:30 and 10:00 i.e. in broad daylight, so in deference to Mr Holmes I wrote at the time “it is not impossible it happened earlier.” The evidence that it ocurred between 23:24 and 23:26 came to light only when I stumblred across the video files above.

A s for a possible culprit not only were the vital files misplaced, but the evidence was so extremely brief that it was only by sheer luck that I spotted it at all. Here is a looped repeat of the suspect. The original clip obviously only has one fleeting shot of the critter as it leapt up the steps. As to what the animal is, your guess is as good as mine. Where exactly the animal came from was not recorded; the clip starts with the first frame shown here and was recorded nearly three hours after the hedgehog appears injured as.