I'm turning into an animal hater
Or at least a bunny hater, that is. I do not love mosquitoes either, but that's another story.
A year ago, the ground was covered with thick snow, and the hare went and ate the tips of even the tallest of bushes, but left the bases of tree trunks intact, simply because the plants were protected by the snow. This year, there has not been any snow. The ground is bare, and even though it's not even mid March, plants are emerging from the ground.
One would imagine, that the forest is full of green stuff for the hare to eat, but apparently those little beasts think that my yard is some sort of a gourmet buffet for bunnies. One night I even caught the brown european hare "red-handed" eating my cherry tree. I just happened to wake up in the middle of the night, looked out through the window, and there it was. Eating my tree at my front yard.
I tried knocking the window with my fist to call its attention, and yes, the hare noticed me. It raised its face a little and paused munching. Then it realised I was indoors and went back to eating. So I went out on the porch and yelled at it. First it didn't even move. I yelled some more, and it hopped next to the lilac bushes growing by my yard and stayed there. I got really frustrated looking for something to throw at the hare, but couldn't think of anything suitable. I closed the porch door, opened it again, and shouted at the animal: " Go on, go away, I DO see you there!" Well, the hare heard me and decided to move to a quieter location at my neighbour's yard. I guess it finally understood that I would not let it eat in peace.
But what makes me sad, is that the hare has eaten almost all of the trees and bushes I have, except of those few I protected with fencing in the autumn before winter. I thought there would be snow in the winter - as there usually is - to protect the smaller plants. Not quite correct. As a result, the hare has eaten my rose seedlings, my crabapple saplings, my azaleas, Clematis, blueberry plants, magnolias, cherry trees, plum trees, Vitis vine, honey berry bushes, you name it.
A year ago, the ground was covered with thick snow, and the hare went and ate the tips of even the tallest of bushes, but left the bases of tree trunks intact, simply because the plants were protected by the snow. This year, there has not been any snow. The ground is bare, and even though it's not even mid March, plants are emerging from the ground.
One would imagine, that the forest is full of green stuff for the hare to eat, but apparently those little beasts think that my yard is some sort of a gourmet buffet for bunnies. One night I even caught the brown european hare "red-handed" eating my cherry tree. I just happened to wake up in the middle of the night, looked out through the window, and there it was. Eating my tree at my front yard.
I tried knocking the window with my fist to call its attention, and yes, the hare noticed me. It raised its face a little and paused munching. Then it realised I was indoors and went back to eating. So I went out on the porch and yelled at it. First it didn't even move. I yelled some more, and it hopped next to the lilac bushes growing by my yard and stayed there. I got really frustrated looking for something to throw at the hare, but couldn't think of anything suitable. I closed the porch door, opened it again, and shouted at the animal: " Go on, go away, I DO see you there!" Well, the hare heard me and decided to move to a quieter location at my neighbour's yard. I guess it finally understood that I would not let it eat in peace.
But what makes me sad, is that the hare has eaten almost all of the trees and bushes I have, except of those few I protected with fencing in the autumn before winter. I thought there would be snow in the winter - as there usually is - to protect the smaller plants. Not quite correct. As a result, the hare has eaten my rose seedlings, my crabapple saplings, my azaleas, Clematis, blueberry plants, magnolias, cherry trees, plum trees, Vitis vine, honey berry bushes, you name it.
This is a crabapple sapling that has been completely eaten. The branches have been cut by sharp teeth and the bark has been eaten too. The latter might have happened with some help from a small rodent.
The hare has eaten even the smaller saplings I still had growing in a pot on my porch. It seems to love all kinds of plant containers as there is bunny poo in every planting box and pot on my porch.
So today I decided to protect the rest of the saplings that still had something to save, which mostly means short stubs located here and there on my yard.
Since the plants are pretty small, I bought some narrow fencing material. And as I expect the hare to try and eat the rest of the plants entering the fencing from the top, I tried to make it more difficult by adding some netting I made of a sturdy string. I'm not even sure if that will discourage the hare at all, but I surely hope it will.
Sadly, I think this won't be enough. As the spring plants have started emerging, it will simply shift to eating up all my tulips. That's what happened last year, and I can't think of a way to prevent that from happening again.
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