Bright the Vision that Delighted

I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.
(Wendell Berry, The Peace of Wild Things)

As a lapine fur, I naturally feel a close affinity with all rabbits, whether in the pages of Watership Down, on the television screen or anywhere else. However, to me the most extraordinary, exhilarating, elating feeling is reserved for those all-too-infrequent occasions when I can be with wild rabbits in their natural habitat. This is "rabbiteering", and although those of us with rabbit phenotypes are obviously likely to find it the most fulfilling experience, there's no reason why anyone with a love for wild animals shouldn't join in. =:)

The first thing to realise is that, here in Britain at least, rabbits are legally speaking vermin. We may not like the fact, but that's what the law says. Because of this, it is extremely important to conduct yourself with discretion when rabbiteering. That doesn't mean that you need to skulk around as though you were in the SAS; simply that you shouldn't do anything to draw unnecessary attention to yourself or to the location of the warren you are observing. For this reason also, please be careful about any photos you take that are intended to be seen by others, avoiding any particularly obvious clues as to location. And don't trespass! There's almost always a Right of Way that will allow you a decent view of rabbits.

In any case, running around and shouting won't endear you to the local lapine population. Although rabbits are generally timid creatures, it's not as hard to get reasonably near to them as you might think. For one thing, their wide-set eyes mean that they have very poor 3D vision, and this can allow you to get surprisingly close. You should also try to break up the outline of your body, as this is hard-wired into the lapine brain as a reason for flight. This doesn't need much - in some cases, even an overgrown gate will do. Also, wear drab clothing that allows you to blend into the scenery. You may well be getting muddy anyway, so don't wear anything expensive! =;)

Finding a warren is the first step, of course. Rabbit numbers have recovered greatly since the myxomatosis epidemic of the 1950s, and so long as you're looking in the right places, you should be able to find rabbits. An excellent first place to look would be a field grazed by other animals, as these are generally freer of pesticides and other chemicals than crop fields, and besides, the farmer is less likely to worry about rabbits eating some dandelions than rabbits chewing up all the lettuces! =;) If there's a reasonably thick hedgerow or two, so much the better - the holes themselves may well be located thereunder.

The photos of wild rabbits on this site were taken in 2003, and were obtained fairly easily, without any special equipment such as hides or remote shutter controls. (Not even a tripod!) Once I had located a likely-looking rabbit, I simply stood against the aforementioned overgrown gate, in full view of the rabbit, held the camera against the binoculars and focused by means of the camera's LCD screen. With practice, the whole sequence can be done in about ten seconds, even allowing for the inevitable camera shake.

However, don't expect to get to that stage overnight, as first you'll need to gain the warren's trust. I'd be lying if I said this was a particularly quick or easy business, but what you need to do is to convince the rabbits that you mean them no harm, and that your presence can be safely ignored as a potential threat. If the thought of sitting or standing more or less still for maybe two or three hours a day, two or three times a week, for several weeks doing nothing but watching bores you, then frankly rabbiteering may not be for you. However, if you do have the right mindset, then it can be an extraordinarily serene experience, especially in the early morning.

This brings me to my next point: when is the best time to visit a warren? Well, naturally there are local variations, but in general rabbits are crepuscular, which is to say active at dawn and dusk. (They may be diurnal in particularly quiet spots.) Given that human activity is generally far greater at dusk than at dawn, the early morning tends to be the most favoured time. But be warned: in June this can entail getting up at half past four in the morning! =:o It'll be worth it, though, as the late spring is the best time of year to see newly-emerged kittens, and if you don't find the sight of a rabbit kitten absolutely gorgeous then there's really little hope for you. You may even get to see them *pinging* - suddenly leaping up higher than their own height in the joy of being alive - and I can't believe there are many more joyous sights in Nature than that. =:)

That really covers the basics of rabbiteering. Of course, the best way to learn is through experience, and a few mornings at a local warren will tell you more about the best way to approach "your" rabbits than a page like this ever could. However, if you'd like to read some personal experiences of rabbiteering outings, by me and others, then you can visit the Rabbiteering community that Entei-rah runs over on LiveJournal. If you have your own LJ account, then you can join the community and post there yourself. However you choose to observe these beautiful animals, rest assured that you'll be treating yourself to an experience of Nature that the vast majority of modern humans can never even dream of. =:)