Born to be Wild in Bude - News

Rabbits are among our most familiar and endearing mammals, active in broad daylight and often present in large numbers. They were bought to Britain about 900 years ago by the Normans, being introduced for their fur and meat. They were kept in special enclosures called ‘warrens’ from which, inevitably some escaped and began living wild. Rabbits begin mating as early as January and continue throughout the summer, the early babies themselves able to breed in the same year. The escaped rabbits bred profusely and they were regarded as pests. Many were trapped or shot but still the numbers increased.
You may have had the pleasure of seeing wild rabbits playing in a field, or unlucky enough to see very sickly one with swollen eyes, almost blind, running around aimlessly.

This is because of the disgusting Myxoma virus that was deliberately introduced to Britain in 1953. It is now known as myxomatosis. It wiped out 99% of the rabbit population and unfortunately it is still around today. I have seen many this year that have had to be humanely destroyed.  Once infected the animal’s eyes become swollen and inflamed.  Within four days the animal will be blind, becoming disoriented and unable to feed properly. It will almost certainly die by the 10th day. This does not only affect wild rabbits; if you have pet rabbits they can be infected, as the disease is spread by fleas. If you have wild rabbits near your garden you can protect your pet rabbits by having them vaccinated against the virus, just ask your vet. It is just a shame we can’t protect the wild ones as well.

Baby Birds

You may have seen many gardens birds with beaks full of insects or worms just like this Blackbird. He and his partner have a nest in the hedge in our garden. They are feeding non stop during the day and are just amazing to watch; they must be exhausted by the end of the day. I have also seen some interest in our new blue tit box: we will just have to wait and see if it is used this summer.

Talking of baby birds, if you do come across babies on your lawn, please do not touch them unless they are in immediate danger (from say a cat) Trying to hand rear young fledglings is extremely difficult and often unsuccessful. If you can make the area safe for them they will have a much better chance of surviving as the parents will still feed them for many days. The babies will leave the nest before they are ready to fly and still rely on parents to feed them. You may have seen young sparrows all fluffed up still wanting mum to feed them even when they are capable of feeding themselves.

My husband Barry and I went to help three green finches that had fallen from their nest onto the concrete edge of an empty swimming pool. On further inspection the owner spotted another in the swimming pool; luckily in the shallow end, the deep end had about five inches of water from the heavy rain we have just had. More than enough to drown a little bird. After a short search we found the nest, but on trying to put the babies back found they just fluttered out again. The whole garden is a wildlife haven but they had to find the only dangerous bit.  The tree only just overhung the wall that separated lots of shrubs and a perfect wildlife habitat from the concrete swimming pool, so we just popped them over the wall to safety. We and the owner were so pleased to see the parents watching our every move and I am sure they will carry on feeding them. If we are lucky we should also start seeing young hedgehogs out and about now. Remember: no bread and milk, but cat and dog food. Please make sure there is fresh water for all our garden wildlife.

Have a happy summer.