Rabbits!

You have my sympathy. Without our two Jack Russells and two cats, we would be over-run with the blighters.

Rabbit proof fencing maybe the only answer.

You have my sympathy too. I remember one year when the blighters were eating absolutely everything in my garden - flowers, herbs, vegetables. They even ate the onions and chives, so i bet they would have been ready-seasoned if we could have caught and eaten them.
We are only separated by chain link fence from the fields and the adjoining gardens, so i attached chickenwire to that to prevent them just hopping through. Young ones still found their way in sometimes, but only until they grew too fat on my veg!
Occasionally, a burrow has appeared, but if I persistently block/collapse it, they seem to stop using it.

Currently there isn't a problem - over the last five years, the previously huge local rabbit population has been declining and now seems to have almost totally gone - to begin with, I thought that a neighbour's cat, a very prolific hunter, had something to do with their decline, but realistically I think it must have something to do with disease. It's sad not to see them all playing or relaxing in the fields, but my garden is certainly a lot better now!

Yes, merlotgran and MC, cats are the answer. Many a rabbit or hare, has been dinner for our boys, along with squirrels and rats. They've even tried to take on a fox!

if cats arent your thing.
gm used to deter rabbits and deer from her roses;
cut a shallow(4inch deep)trench around the plants ,not too close and sprinkle camphor flakes,crystals or balls(mothballs)in the trench,cover with dirt loosely.
its a bit noxious for a while but the rabbits smell it for a long time.
also used in a dirt cellr used to store food.it kept the spiders,afids ,moths and weevels and such away.

we had a problem with woodrats eatting the electrics in our car.i could only find mothballs,so i cut up some tights filled with 6-12 blls and set them in jar lids on the tires.also hung one from the front towing bracket.kept the rats and squirrels away.
had to refill about every 3 months.the smell hung around for about a week.but it was worth it.

just be careful if there are any small children around

mimiro, where do you buy moth balls for the wardrobe days? I've tried waitrose.

Moth balls.
www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2060353.m570.l1313.TR9.TRC2.A0.H0.Xmoth+balls.TRS0&_nkw=moth+balls&_sacat=0

Greyhounds? ???

I am going to B AND Q this evening and will try and get some mothballs - we do have children around but I can bury them in the tunnel - the balls, not the children!! Thanks for the suggestion. Failing that I will follow the ebay link - thanks!

When DD moved back from NI with her two small boys after her divorce, she moved into rented accommodation so we gave her cat a home.

He had an absolute ball rabbiting day and night. Talk about the killing fields!! He made great friends with our ridgeback and would bring her the dead offerings as a present. I remember laughing at her expression one day as she lay in her favourite sun bathing spot surrounded by dead bodies. Mittens arrived with yet another victim which was one too many for Nahla who started howling at the kitchen window to get my attention.

They're no longer with us and Rabbit duty is now down to Jazz and Cookie with a little help (or hindrance) from the terriers.

When we had a place in Scotland there were hundreds of rabbits in the back field, which affected everyone.
The locals used to come with their guns and try to shoot them.
According to this article: "the gestation period for rabbits is 28-31 days, a rabbit can be impregnated within hours of giving birth, litters contain 1-14 babies, and rabbits are fertile from about six months of age."
we don't seem to get them here, but have other pests eg deer eat the rosebuds and young leaves off trees.

We had a prolific rabbit hunter (cat) living here10 years ago. I would be working or sitting in the garden and hear a loud plop many times a day as it returned with yet another rabbit. There would then be loud crunching noises as it started to devour its prey. Trouble is, it would never finish one before going off to catch another. Every evening, I was having to clear my garden of the remains, and if i missed any the smell was horrendous by the next day. (Sorry if I am putting anyone off their dinner!) That said, the rabbit population was so bad at that time that it didn't make any noticeable difference to their numbers.

The same cat wasn't content with rabbits, and attacked me more than once when I was quietly working away in the garden - i would be rooting out weeds then suddenly the cat would fly through the air out of nowhere and sink its teeth in my hand. I think it's safe to say that the dislike was mutual! Fortunately, my neighbours's cat, although just as prolific a hunter, is a much more pleasant creature!

BandQ did have moth balls and I have excavated the burrow and poked 4 or 5 sachets of balls down there then filled it in again. It is a good two feet from any plants and at the lower end of a sloping bed, so I am hoping none of the noxious stuff will get near the plants. Fingers crossed.

was off cutting down a tree ,its roots clogging water lines.flooded loo.just wash water thankfully
did some mothball therapy around my container garden,we have giant black grasshoppers that will and did take down a ten year old 5 ft jade plant.i cried.
my crows help alot but it was dry for 7 months and had a bumper crop of hoppers and fleas.
i live in a usually wet part of the states and the mothballs breakdown and leach into the dirt underneath lasts for awhile even with the rain.did it in a rock garden feral cats were using for a litterbox.just put the sachets{i like that} under the little statues.little furry buggers bolted fast.
first time took awhile to find the mothballs,i found them in the laundry supplies.

hope it works for you lucky girl.i cant grow roses but gran was a master.i can grow amyrillis's tho have 2 gorgeous types right now.working on potted tulips.kind of hot here for them,i have to freeze the bulbs before i pot them.i do love tulips. good weekend to all.

Thanks all for directions to mothballs in B&Q etc. (That's where I miss no longer having a handy corner hardware shop.)

Years ago, I read in the Scottish Sunday Express that a farmer in the Edinburgh area got so tired of deer eating his crops that he bought a load of lion muck from Edinburgh Zoo and spread it all the way round the edges of his field.
Hey presto! No deer, whether it was instinct or racial memory at work no-one knows.
Myself I modified the idea and put used cat litter into a carrier back which I placed om a small ornamental balcony that was the favourite haunt of pigeons - they left immediately and after a couple of days you shouldn't need to go on putting the used litter "out to air".
Perhaps manuring the rose bed with cat or dog's dirt keeps rabbits away?

Old tea bags soaked in Olbas oil seem to work.

If you dislike nature, then move to a high rise flat. If you choose to live near open spaces then embrace it because that is where you want to live. The world doesn't just belong to people you know!!!!

See of Chewbacca will lend you her ferret (she's usually to be found the the Argy-Bargy Cafe) , then you can have rabbit pie, rabbit stew, rabbit curry....

This is the only one in our garden,and does no harm at all.

cute

Fine quizqueen - I will direct all the fleas, nits, rats, pathological microbes etc your way! - you are welcome to them! Nature is not always good for humans! Nature is a non-stop battle between species - it is not all cute!

But I take your point about the rabbits - I wish them no harm; I just want to send them in another direction so they don't eat my roses (which are also part of nature!).

I currently have a large mouse/small rat in my kitchen. Cat brought it in but has now lost interest and gone out. I don't know where it is and want it gone, any ideas anyone?

Why not get a dog - I know how you love 'man's best friend'

It's alive and looked unharmed