Day 7 - Rabbit

© Sharon Whitley

Skomer Island Rabbit

On our visit to Skomer Island back in June, we saw an abundance of rabbits as well as the puffins we had specifically gone there to see.  The rabbit holes make perfect homes for the puffins who nest in burrows at Skomer to raise their young.  This little cutie caught my eye so I decided to paint him or her as part of the 30 in 30 challenge.

Here is some information about rabbits that you may not have known, 

Originally from Spain and south-west France, the rabbit was brought to England in the 12th century AD by the Normans and kept in captivity in warrens as a source of meat and fur. Many escaped into the wild and eventually become so common that farming them was no longer economic. Helped by fast breeding, a diet of virtually any vegetable matter and persecution of predators, the rabbit slowly established itself in the wild in Britain, despite originally favouring a warmer, drier climate.

In the 1950s, the disease myxomatosis was introduced to curb their numbers and the rabbit almost became extinct, but is once again a common animal of the countryside. It can be a serious pest for farmers, eating and damaging crops.

The male is called a buck and the female a doe. The main predators of rabbits are the stoat and the fox, although young animals also fall to birds of prey and weasels.

from the British Wildlife Centre website from the British Wildlife Centre website