Rabbits - all but disappeared !!

Lightyear

Well-Known Member
Folks,

Are you seeing many rabbits around at the moment ?

I have access to around 2000 acres of arable, pasture and woodland in 6 distinct plots near-ish to where I live
and this year the rabbit population seems to have all but disappeared.

Is it the weather or disease, or a combination of both ??

Cheers + ATVB

Philip
 
I am seeing very few rabbits about if any. That includes very little sign of them being there (unused holes etc)
 
Plenty not that far from you on the coast infact some areas are running alive
with them.
 
I am seeing very few rabbits about if any. That includes very little sign of them being there (unused holes etc)

Exactly....in the past even if I didn't see them the evidence of population levels from the droppings was obvious....Not at the moment !!!

Very worrying really.

Cheers + ATVB

Philip
 
They're very patchy, and the populations are doing different things in different places: on one farm there were virtually none for the last 2 years, and they're now reappearing with a vengeance; on one farm none at all and none seen for years; one golf course none since October, one golf coures less than a mile away has a small but stable population, and one golf course a little bit further away is completely overrun.

My guess is that there's relatively limited dispersal between sub-populations, so myxy and VHD can wipe one population out, and it takes a long time for it to be re-populated. But it also means that there will always be a few patches that have lots.
 
I must admit that I have never known it this bad, and I have been shooting/ferreting for over 40 years
 
They're thin on the ground here. Its mostly down to a cold winter followed by a cold wet summer and another cold winter suppressing breeding. Last summer a lot on my ground just disappeared. It seems they migrated to escape waterlogged burrows and a lot turned up in nearby woods where there were no buries before. Certainly, the only places on my ground that have held rabbits continuously over the last twelve months have been sheltered or well drained areas that have stayed dry. Rainfall has a lot to do with it. They started reappearing in March but they don't seem to have bred as normal. I'm guessing that's down to this year's cold spring as well. Plus I keep shooting them.
 
Rabbits

Much the same on most of my ground, although one area that seemed very low during the winter is now showing good numbers, as said the wet summer last year did not help, but they will do what rabbits do best:D and make a comeback, I just wish they would get on with it as I will be training a new hawk this year, so could do with plenty of stock come oct/nov to get him going.
 
My guess is that there's relatively limited dispersal between sub-populations, so myxy and VHD can wipe one population out, and it takes a long time for it to be re-populated. But it also means that there will always be a few patches that have lots.

This would seem to fit in with what I'm seeing, but I wonder what creates the "boundaries" between populations?
On one of the bits of ground I shoot the rabbits were all but wiped out by myxi last autumn, and I'm not really seeing any there at the mo. However, on another piece of ground, almost completely surrounded by the first, there's still plenty. Most odd.
 
I was wondering why my Golden Retriever was putting on weight - till yesterday when I found a half eaten bunny on the drive & she ate another full sized one today. There aren't many here - good job or I'd have to muzzle her!! Still the dog food bill will be down this month!!

​Ian
 
north argyll has the lowest rabbit numbers i,ve ever seen the past 2 years though there is some areas where numbers are ok all the ground that I cover hardly has a rabbit anymore combination of myxy,vhd and sea eagles!fox numbers are definetly down round the whole area as well quite possibly a link.
 
none around my way all gone and no reason why the .22 is almost redundant now its gone from 30-60 a night to nil
 
I shot maybe 20 or so rabbits last year on my land, and previously hadn't seen many for ages..( I have app 1750 acres) BUT, on one farm last week, when I was stalking, and where I thought they were non existant I saw upwards of 20-25 of them... loads of small young too...... So, looking good for me and the ferrets this year...:)
 
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as long as its not the new disease brought in from Austrila instead of maxy it kills 999 out of a 1000 over night
 
rabbits def seem down year on year round here. However we are inundated with long eared rabbits which is great to see.
 
I was wondering why my Golden Retriever was putting on weight - till yesterday when I found a half eaten bunny on the drive & she ate another full sized one today. There aren't many here - good job or I'd have to muzzle her!! Still the dog food bill will be down this month!!

​Ian
I bet your bill for wormers has rise quite steeply though.
 
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