Rabbits may be in danger

[whippet 99 2,613]

never mind the rabbits ....................were all in danger....

[saintsman54 15]

Every predator - prey relationship has booms and busts

[Guest vin]

Too much rain over your way Steve..lot of land still water logged..i think the combo of weather and mixy etc etc has had big knock on the populations this year.

 

Stevo Said same about a couple of his spots up in the Dales also..I think its just been a bad year for them all round.

 

PS.

 

merry xmas lads... say eyup to Stevo, Dannyboy and the rest of Cropsafe crew...Im sure you,ll be knocking a few off the hedges in a few weeks...the cover is juts starting to die off now.

[stealthy1 3,964]

There's to many Badgers digging up the rabbit kits, lets have a cull

[TOMO 24,843]

Yep been saying the same,, the rain has hit them hard...... And it's fecking wiped the leverets out round here,,,, hare numbers are terrible

[Salopian 5]

I've found that they've been in steady decline over the last few seasons. Put it down to VHD. first saw it mid 90's and they still havn't recovered on this estate. Now its generaly all over my permission. Obviously there are other contributers, myxy, badgers digging nests, birds of prey, weather and us. Rabbits have bounced back in the past, yes but I don't know if they will this time. It could be a long road. Google viral hemerage desease, its scary.It can lie dormant on the ground for months. Don't like being a pesimist.

[Brimmer 220]

I personally think people are the biggest threat to large rabbit populations. Like the lads have said already on this thread, the other factors also see populations go boom or bust, but they do go round in cycles, seeing populations explode after a lot of years if left untouched.

You see keepered areas, and estates, where the rabbits are protected for a lot of years by the keepers from human pressure, the numbers can be unreal, although they will from time to time fall victim to mixi, and vhd which can near wipe them out, they get the chance to breed unhindered for quite a few years before this happens, resulting in huge numbers! Wish i could get on one of these places!

On the land we have worked for over 20 yrs now, mixi has been present nearly every year, its just one of those things. When we started on the ground, there were rabbits all the way through it. Being pretty keen we have hit it hard in certain areas, and the rabbits have never returned how they were when we first started, and yearly you can see some warrens growing over. The only areas we do see any numbers are on the spots we have ignored for a few years.

When I was a young lad, 4 i think, some of the first times I ever went out rabbiting were to Malham. Back in the 70's it was a rabbiting mecca, nothing like it was pre mixi days, my old feller tells me tales about what it was like in 1954 up there, before mixi did its first wipe out, but it was the main dales stronghold.

Nowadays.on farmland up there, from what I believe, the odd lads still get a decent bag, but getting 20's now is not on the cards weekly.

Could this coincide with one of the bigger farming families up there getting organised with drop boxes on massive areas of land over the years? That along with folks travelling more, and geared up right are the only changes I have seen over the last 30 yrs.

Rabbits take a good few years to explode in good numbers without any sort of predation, I think about this a lot, i reckon a handfull of rabbits could take maybee 3-4 yrs if left untouched to reach 3-4 hundred with only the natural factors to contend with.

Just my thinking. Hope i'm wrong, but personally can see estates being the last bastion for rabbits, maybee the odd industrial estate as well!

[mossy_500 0]

fierce decline here..early morning pheasant hunts are only dotted with conies here. other years the poor springer is falling over herself with fresh rabbit trails.im another for putting it down to the weather and hoping summer yields a good increase in them

[stevethefish 80]

Well they always seem to bounce back so I am hoping this will be the case. I am definately going to leave some areas this season to give them a chance to recover, the keeper will be ok with this I am sure as he knows we do a good job for him. Other areas unfortunately will have to be done, we have to tread that fine line between doing the right thing for the farmer and preservation, trouble is if we dont do it they will get someone else to do the job.

[Brimmer 220]

Looking forward to your reports and vids again Steve, hope theres a good few around for the crew.

[fitchet 788]

Yep been saying the same,, the rain has hit them hard...... And it's fecking wiped the leverets out round here,,,, hare numbers are terrible

 

Hares have been getting fewer and fewer round here for years. If it isn't crops getting sprayed which kills leverets its people having hare shoots to stop lads driving the land. I have a fair bit of permission for hares and the bit that we've got is the only area round there where they don't have an annual shoot. Its gutting to say the least.

[Sirius 1,358]

I can't say I have noticed a problem with rabbit numbers this year. Infact it been the best season for a while.

[Tug 168]

This type of thread comes up all the time, rabbit populations vary constantly.

[STAFFORDSHIRE FERRETER 0]

In Staffordshire there has been small outbreaks of Mixi and there are a few locations that I have reported to the EA etc, but Mixi is no longer a reportable disease. Also in Staffordshire there is an increase in the Buzzards which may have contributed to the decline in Rabbits.

[stevethefish 80]

Well it seems pretty widespread but lets hope that it will change as the weather improves and they have a good breeding year. Its always the case that when big numbers are about disease will thin them out, same with humans so look forward to an epidemic or a war soon.

I can't see the buzzards making any difference there are hundreds around here and I have never seen one take a live rabbit yet. I sometimes leave the odd dead one for them in fields nice to see them.