Well we appear to have rather been overrun with Rabbits at the moment! We throw the curtains back in the morning and there they are all are, munching our trees and digging holes in the grass.
Talking to our neighbours there does appear to be more than usual this year, just our luck. There are not many options for protecting yourself against these fluffy bunny pests. The favoured option by the land owners around here seems to be to shoot them!
This might seem a little extreme, but they are impossible to remove completely so at best all one is doing is reducing, not stopping the problem.
Their favourite forms of attack appear to be digging holes in the grass, and eating the bottom leaves and branches off all of our trees. Fortunately we have rabbit guards on the trunks, otherwise they would strip the bark of as well and kill the trees out right.
I invited our local Firearms Officer around to discuss what options I would have, should I decide to ’shoot’ our rabbits, but more about that in another post.
Over the last few days, there do appears to have be slightly fewer around, but I think that is more to do with the shooting parties that have been going around the field margins when it is dark with a large lamp. While this might have seemed to me just a few months ago a little extreme, when you witness first hand the damage they cause and the time and costs to put right, you can see why this pest has to be managed as humanely as possible.
Tags: Firearms Officer, Rabbit Damage, Rabbits, Wildlife
Categories: Garden Improvements, Living the Country Life, Posts with Photos, Wildlife