Wild bunny hole in the garden

For the second year running a wild pair of bunnies has dug a tunnel in the garden (same place) and I have just caught the local scavenging cat (who our cat hates with a vengeance) with it's front legs up to it's armpits in the hole. The hole entrance is in the middle of a sort of a flower bed only 10ft away from the house.

I am wondering if there are babes in the hole but why would wildies have their babies in such an exposed spot? Last year one of adults would come and go down the hole and then come out and fill the entrance in. This seemed such strange behaviour or do wildies seal the babies in a hole between feeds. Then one day we saw 5 babies come out of the hole but I thought they seemed too big for it to have been their first outing - after that they moved away. When we dug the tunnel out it was about 3 feet long.

I know nothing about wild bunny behaviour - does anybody have any thoughts as to their behaviour or suggestions as to where I can find info.

Last year we didn't have Herbie and his girls so the wildies were a pleasure to watch. This year they are not so welcome, they all died out from mxyi several years ago and I am a nervy bunny mummy!

Vanessa xx

It's normal for the female to fill in the hole entrance if she has kits in there. It helps keep them safe whilst she's out eating. Rabbits try to draw as little attention to nesting babies as possible so only visit to feed once a day and cover the hole when they leave.

The tunnel is probably deep enough to protect the babies at first but they will be vulnerable once they start creeping out higher up the tunnel and coming out to feed.

Tamsin

Thanks for that Tamsin, that confirms what I thought.

Daft wildies - we live on the edge of fields and the moors, they should be out there.

I guess the attraction of the flower bed is the ornamental grasses planted in it :?