Last year around Autumn one of the locals released two Rabbits in an area where there are no other Rabbits,..lots of Foxes though. Then the heavy rain arrived and the river to the rear of where the Rabbits were released rose to six feet away from them,..then the meadow in front of them flooded,..i didn't give much hope for them,..i imagined just one surviving on its own,..then kept checking,..they only had about eight feet of grass left to move about before the Winter arrived. Well i need not have worried,..first i spotted one Rabbit,..then four,..then six,..the last count was seven. Twenty yards to the left of them,..first post on the right,..see what is looking back at them. Ah there he is,..a big Male Fox.
As someone who is living in an area that is absolutely swarming with rabbits who are causing LOTS of property destruction I definitely hope Mr. Fox has a good meal. Don't want to sound hard re: rabbits but I see the daily destruction they're causing and the heart break of people who are working hard on their yards only to have them chewed up and their efforts ruined.
Let's hope the fox manages to keep the rabbit population in check or before you know it they'll be everywhere. The local who released them may regret doing so if they, and their offspring, start to invade his garden.
We fenced a small seasonal garden to keep rabbits out. Even though we have a healthy population of coyotes, and a bobcat or two, the rabbits destroyed green beans, lettuces, and Swiss Chard. Now we plant those inside the fence along with other spring and late fall crops for protection. Coyotes and bobcats help keep the population in check, but rabbits breed like, well, rabbits. We don't have foxes, but if we did, I'd encourage them to dine well!
I must admit i never had trouble with Rabbits even though they could have got into my market garden area,..as to why they never entered is beyond me,..the same applied with Foxes,..there were several families of them yet they never touched my Hens or Ducks,..part explanation could be the Foxes had enough Rabbits to eat and the Rabbits were scared to venture far away from the Burrows,..of course i ate at least one Rabbit every week they taste nice when roasted. I can well understand the destruction Rabbits,..Deer,..Possum and Moles create,..thankfully none of these get into my garden,..i get Snails lol. One of the friendly Foxes.
I hope the Foxes can keep ahead of the Rabbits so your garden stays safe, Phillip. The only time I've had any critter problems was with the first garden I had ever planted. Voles, or moles, tunneled under the snow the first winter and ate every single plant! I planted the bed again and acquired a pregnant kitty that was quite the hunter and I never had that problem again.
2ofus,..where i live now its well walled in,..where i grew my market garden veg was full of the Foxes and Badgers,..not forgetting the Rabbits,..as mentioned all i have now are Snails,..no Slugs as my Hedgehogs eat all the Slugs.
Delightful pictures of your hedgehogs. Sadly they have become a rare sight here. A few years ago we had them nesting under our shed and would see them on a regular basis. I think all the disturbance of new buildings going up have forced them away from the area.
I have spotted them at the front of the house which isn't safe for them,..people pass along there,..on one occasion two teenage girls were screaming their lungs out,..they thought the Hedgehog was a Rat . My family of Hedgehogs used to appear way before dark,..now i only hear them outside the back door eating the cats dried food,..mine sleep and hibernate in my shed,..so i leave the door slightly ajar,..one day while working in the garden i closed the shed door,..when i looked over at the door poor Hedgehog was closed out.
I never knew hedgehogs ate slugs. If we had them here they'd be as big as sheep cause our slugs are killer size.
