Rabbit damaged tree

[felixthelogchopper]

May have been when snow was on the ground, rabbits striped loads of trees on the M20 high up when we had snow here.

 

Ah, I didn't think of that.

[Gareth Smith]

I might have the scale of the trees wrong in my mind, but do you have any muntjac round there as that damage looks a bit high up the trunk?

 

Hi mate, yes we have had some muntjac ( most of them been shot now , one of the best venisons in my book ) but it is definetly rabbit damage, i have seen them doing it and its clearly rabbits twin teeth marks. Its about 18 inches up the tree at its highest point.

[Gareth Smith]

Hi mate, yes we have had some muntjac ( most of them been shot now , one of the best venisons in my book ) but it is definetly rabbit damage, i have seen them doing it and its clearly rabbits twin teeth marks. Its about 18 inches up the tree at its highest point.

 

And yes sorry this did occur when snow was on the ground.

[felixthelogchopper]

And yes sorry this did occur when snow was on the ground.

 

Ah, suddenly it all became clear

[Ben Ballard]

we had loads of trees hammered round here when it snowed ,seemed to be ash that got hit hardest,we always leave a few in our nursery so if a rabbit gets in it would go for the ash rarther than the trees we want gave a load of old tree guards to a friend that had all the trees in his garden attacked:001_smile:

[Saw-sick Steve]

Got a tree about 40ft tall that the has all it's bark removed by rabbits (I guess) from base to about 12 inches up. No damage to the core wood, just the bark thats gone. The customer is keen to have the tree felled but it looks healthy and is already in full bud.

 

Do you think the lack of bark is serious enough to fell or will the tree live normally?

An ash of that size should be OK providing it hasn't been ring barked all the way, and even if it has it will coppice from base. Ash do seem to be a particular favourite of rabbits, I always have to ensure they're protected at planting time. Seem to be a lot of bunnies this year as well.

[Gareth Smith]

An ash of that size should be OK providing it hasn't been ring barked all the way, and even if it has it will coppice from base. Ash do seem to be a particular favourite of rabbits, I always have to ensure they're protected at planting time. Seem to be a lot of bunnies this year as well.

 

Thanks to 32 gram size 5`s and a bit of phostoxin there aint too many round here