Who in Wales has rabbits?

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Who in Wales has rabbits?
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markjadams

Joined: 06 May 2006
Posts: 109
Location: South West Wales

Posted: Thu Sep 29, 11 11:49 am Post subject: Who in Wales has rabbits?

I moved to Wales from East Sussex about 6 years ago and was hoping that now I owned some acreage I would have rabbits on my own fields to shoot.

Now six years on I am very dissappointed as I have only even seen one young rabbit and that was in the middle of the day for about 1 minute (never to be seen again).

Now that I run a free range poultry farm I am often getting asked for rabbit and pigeon by customers and it is a bit annoying when I have to say I have none.

I used to shoot rabbit and wood pigeon on a regular basis and struggled to even give them away.

My question is this: Is this just me that has this issue or is Wales devoid of the rabbit population?

Mark.

vegplot

Joined: 19 Apr 2007
Posts: 21301
Location: Bethesda, Gwynedd

Posted: Thu Sep 29, 11 11:54 am Post subject:
They're kept within the walls of the Welsh castles to stop the English getting at them. Old habits die hard.

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Thu Sep 29, 11 12:12 pm Post subject:

In the whole of my first five years of living here, I saw just one small rabbit on our land. Lately, however, the numbers have been gradually increasing to the extent that I regularly see one or more out on the lawn and am desperately trying to find someone with a ferret. It took me ages to work out that this had absolutely nothing to do with the natural ebb and flow of the rabbit population and everything to do with the fact that my gun-happy neighbour left at about the same time the population started to rise!

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Thu Sep 29, 11 12:15 pm Post subject:
Very few round here, I miss being able to get hold of rabbit easily

T.G

Joined: 13 Sep 2009
Posts: 7280
Location: Somewhere you're not

Posted: Thu Sep 29, 11 12:58 pm Post subject:

They’ve all realised Wales isn’t what it was and come here

, well not here, here, as I’d never get in the study door but out and around on the hillsides, we often see a scurry of little white bobtailed bums disappearing across the fields.

However, I doubt it will last long, the Welsh invasion of bunnies must have realised their mistake, realised this isn’t Rhyl as there seems to be an substantial increase of rabbits arbitrarily abandoning their will to live and hurling themselves at passing vehicles. Whether this is some protest or merely a deluded fun way to pass an afternoon, I personally don’t know, but I do know they have started to impact on the scenery, with their many oddly crumpled and squished bodies huddled in the gutter edge… pretty disheartening sight.

Or it maybe that I’m zoning in more as I used to stop to collect the odd not too badly gravel tattooed body for the ferrets when my middle son still lived at home.

But rabbit is rather tasty.

Rosanne

Joined: 21 Aug 2006
Posts: 12
Location: west wales

Posted: Thu Sep 29, 11 10:03 pm Post subject:
rabbots are pests here. My friend came to shoot them and in about an hour he had 25. I went up the field next day and there seemed to be just as many as before. They eat into the hay field for about 5 yards on the side that backs onto the wood.

Bebo

Joined: 21 May 2007
Posts: 12590
Location: East Sussex

Posted: Thu Sep 29, 11 10:13 pm Post subject:
All over the place here. Even see them hoping about in the station car park in the morning and evening.

Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 11 5:43 am Post subject:
Wall to wall rabbits here, inspite of my best efforts.

Ty Gwyn

Joined: 22 Sep 2010
Posts: 4612
Location: Lampeter

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 11 9:09 am Post subject:

vegplot wrote:

They're kept within the walls of the Welsh castles to stop the English getting at them. Old habits die hard.

Your good lady has learnt you well my friend.

Colin & Jan

Joined: 03 Mar 2006
Posts: 203
Location: Dover, Kent

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 11 11:57 am Post subject:
Come to Kent; there are zillions of the bloody things.

markjadams

Joined: 06 May 2006
Posts: 109
Location: South West Wales

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 11 1:37 pm Post subject:
I would love to, I do miss them, I saw them everywhere in Sussex. Maybe they don't want to learn welsh

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 11 1:43 pm Post subject:
Do you have many near you? I have a similar problem, bought a few acres expecting there to be bunnies for the pot and I've not seen many. However, there's a few about and a mile or two away there's loads. I don't think they've been hunted too much, if at all. Plenty of deer though...

markjadams

Joined: 06 May 2006
Posts: 109
Location: South West Wales

Posted: Sun Oct 02, 11 1:51 pm Post subject:
The farm half a mile down the hill says she has rabbits, but none of the neighbouring fields seem to have any. When I collect things from a few miles away(5 miles of so) I see lots of rabbits running around. Mark.

Ty Gwyn

Joined: 22 Sep 2010
Posts: 4612
Location: Lampeter

Posted: Sun Oct 02, 11 8:19 pm Post subject:

markjadams wrote:

I would love to, I do miss them, I saw them everywhere in Sussex.

Maybe they don't want to learn welsh

Maybe its your accent thats driving them off,try speaking Welsh to them.

Kenworth

Joined: 04 Apr 2011
Posts: 855
Location: Michigan

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 11 12:26 am Post subject:
They are in my side yard. My chihuahuas are fascinated by them.

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