Rabbits

 I knew I would have to get round to talking about rabbits eventually. There are so many of them here, and they are such a nuisance if you are trying to grow anything in the garden that I was ignoring them.

Its hard to believe now but rabbits are not native to Britain but were introduced for meat and fur by the Norman invaders in the 12th Century. There are still earthworks near us clearly visible remains of where the Medieval monks of the Abbey in nearby Ravenstonedale bred rabbits for food. These earthworks are marked as "pillow mounds" on the map and are known locally as "giant's graves".

You can see rabbits about at pretty much any time of the day but they seem to have a preference to be nocturnal. Rabbits are well camouflaged apart from the underside of the tail which is white (the North American "cotton tail " rabbits have a tail that is white on top as well).  With their well developed hind legs rabbits are well equipped for a speedy escape from predators. The position of the eyes gives them almost 360 degree all round vision apart from a small blind spot at the tip of the nose. Rabbits live in burrows (unlike their cousins our native hares which live above ground). Rabbits are grazers and because their diet is largely made up of hard to digest cellulose they produce two types of faeces, and one sort gets eaten twice to get the maximum nourishment out of it. Rabbit ears are great for detecting predators but are also an important part of the animal's thermoregulation system.

The only thing that has a significant effect on rabbit population here are the occasional outbursts of the myxomatosis  disease. This disease was introduced as a biological control measure in some parts of the World but it has only a temporary effect and the populations soon bounce back. The gestation period is about a month and they can breed at any time of the year like - well like rabbits!

We have regular visits at our house by the ferret man who seeks permission to hunt rabbits with his ferrets in a way that harks back to the Medieval times.

My camera traps capture more rabbit activity than anything else.

Diary

Nothing but rabbits on my camera traps although one clip did catch the hooting of a tawny owl in the background. I went for a walk on the Waitby Greenriggs reserve yesterday and a volunteer showed me where there were the basal rosettes of Bee Orchids starting to grow. These plants are very rare here and I look forward to checking on them later in the season when hopefully the flowers will be out. The Waitby Greenriggs reserve is famous nationally for its orchids.

A couple of curlew are very active in the field next door. A pair bred there last year so I hope this is a good omen.