walking around the farms i shoot and i see the growing numbers of rabbits even after a bout of mixi.  is this the same trend around the country and what you guys doing to help keep the numbers down ?? and what crops get damaged the most ?

Early drilled wheat! I reckon maybe 10 acres gone. Got about a kilometer of netting to put up when it gets warm. And the shoot are killing them with guns and then using this thing that blows their burrows up once they are cleared.

Problem is caused by neighbouring landlords, and especially incomming townies with big overrown gardens, not sorting out their own vermin.

winter wheat seems the worst and I am suffering most next to british rail. The railways are all overgrown which also harbers foxes and pigeons in the bushes. We are not allowed onto british rail property and they do nothing about them when you phone and complain.

Get your land agent to send BR a bill for crop loss. The Woodland Trust are very good at putting rabbit netting up around their land that harbours vermin. As the railways are now in business to make a profit, get your agent/solicitor to send them a bill and see what happens. Once sent, send them a reminder, then a solicitors letter saying that they will be in court if they dont pay, or prevent it happening again.

I was under the impression that the person on whoms land the vermin reside is responsible for their control - they would then be laible for damages due to negligence - check with lawyer!

Failing that, why not fence it youself? We have similar problems, and have decided the best solution is to just put our own netting up and loose a couple of metres of field margin. 2km of wire, posts, etc at Woodland Trust top spec worked out at £1 a metre plus the cost of putting it up.

 

This other thread is about problems with rabbit damage and Network Rail if you haven't already seen it.

You can also get any landowner to deal with their rabbit infestations - I've got both the Highways Agency and Somerset Highways to carry out work for clients. There is a statutory mechanism for doing so. Just carrying out the work and then billing the landowner means you probably have to sue them - but there is an agency that already has the statutory power to force them to act.

Which one is that?

Oh, forgot to say that if you make sure your bill is over about £700 when you sue them (and win) then you can collect your money owed by making them bankrupt if they mess you about.

It was DEFRA; now it's English Nature - same procedure. Councils get very cross when you point out that they have these obligations, but they can't evade them.

Indeed. I thought that the obligations fell on the person on whos land the rabbits reside.

Thanks for clarifying that.

English Nature now Natural England. See link below for advisory pdfs for things like rabbit dammage etc:

http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/conservation/wildlife-management-licensing/leaflets.htm

See especially section one of Pests Act 1954.

There is also a useful set of guides about ragwort.

They try all ways to get out of it; the best thing is to say that unless you have an agreement in writing within a month you'll go to Natural England - and when you do so make sure to make it clear that the landowner has has the chance to act but has refused to do so.

UPDATE -

Just spoken to the head of this department for NE in Bristol. They are currently undergoing a review, the extent of which is that they will NOT be processing or persuing any action on behalf of farmers in respect to rabbit damage.

So, Natural England will NOT be isuing any notices to landowners, meaning that if the owner of the land fails to take action, then there is only one course of action. AFAIK, you need to (and this is not legal advice):

0) Check your facts.

1) Ask the landowner to sort it.

2) Write to them, and CC your land agent, mentioning your previous conversation, stating any damages (with evidence) and citing the Pests Act 1954.

3) In a month (you need to allow reasonable time to respond) you need to write again, this time CC your solicitor, stating that unless you get immediate action then you will be taking further action in the form of requesting that the Secretary of State for Environment (Hillary Benn) issue a notice to take the relevent action under the Ag Act. It ought be pointed out at this point that their failure to take action would make them liable for prosection, and that the Secreatry of State can have third party contractors enter the land to take said action AND then bill the occupier.

4) See what happens. It should be noted that once you have the above done, if you get any sort of action taken against the occupier, you would be quite able to claim damages for your crop dammage from the occupier (thats why you get evidence and CC your agent). Unless you had given them time and warned them, then your chances of getting any damages will be very slim - once you have some action from the Secreatry of State, then you could have a prima facie case for negligence occuring actual loss.

Actually, I could write an article for FW for this if anyone is interested. I'm not a lawyer but I have plenty of free time to gather the facts.