Rabbits and Rhubarb

 

Richard Bell's Wild West Yorkshire nature diary, May, 2007

rabbitfleeceWITH TWO RABBITS nibbling their way around our back garden and next door’s, you’ve got to take precautions when you plant out crops. While the larger rabbit (mum?) nibbled amongst the weeds, the smaller one hopped away from the leeks and rocket that I’d left unprotected and proceeded to eat a piece of rhubarb leaf that I’d torn off when I pulled a stem.

This is surprising because the leaf of rhubarb contains so much oxalic acid that it has been used as an insecticide.

rabbitIf this youngster can nibble rhubarb leaves, I guess that it is capable of going for the pungent leaves the leeks and rocket, so I cover them with fleece. The plants do seem to have had a few bites taken from them and I wouldn’t want to find them gone tomorrow morning.