Run Julie, Run & Rabbit-Response

Taken from Lynne’s weekly column ‘Green Scene’ for the Western Mail
26^th June 2021

Run Julie, Run

Seven years ago I became the first (and still the only) person to run across Wales – barefoot – and the account of which can be read in the book that followed, ‘Barefoot and Before.’

Today, (Saturday 26^th) a good friend and fellow madwoman, Julie Cashell, will be retracing my steps (fully shod) to raise money for Latch and Noah’s Ark Hospital.

Inspired by Crickhowell’s fabulous youngsters, Scott Foulkes, Cassie Evans and Abi Phillips, Julie, together with Scott’s aunty and uncle, Zoe and Andrew Vicary, developed Lled Y Cymru (Across Wales) as their version of my cross country challenge, which is quite an honour.

As a team they have been busy recceing the route over the last couple of months, with Andrew on his pushbike acting as a guide and back up for Julie.  Julie has already encountered all kinds of Welsh weather with training runs of around 30 miles being made in the searing heat of early June and recovery runs done in torrential rain.

Although wearing trainers, she will be running the 52 miles in just one day with lots of encouragement from an army of well wishers and supporters who will also join her at various locations across the country to run a few miles with her.

From experience, I know that the training and planning will have been exhausting – and that’s before tackling the 52 miles of every type of Welsh terrain you can imagine.  Mind you, I have to say that the stunning scenery and wildlife encountered on route acted as great motivation for me.

Leaving Anchor on Saturday morning (26^th), Julie is planning to arrive in Borth around early evening to a crowd of well wishers.  She has already smashed her initial fundraising target of £5,000 and the total is continuing to rise thanks to the generosity of supporters.

Good luck Julie, I know you’ll take it all in your stride and arrive at Borth barely blowing!

You can find out more and still sponsor Julie at https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-display/showROFundraiserPage?userUrl=LledYCymru&isTeam=true

Rabbit-Response

I witnessed the most magical event in nature last week. I have to share it …

Several weeks ago a large-ish hole appeared in a client’s neat asparagus bed. My client and I stood looking at the hole like a couple of road workers, and deliberated.  We decided it wasn’t a rabbit as there were no rabbit droppings at the entrance, definitely not a mole but maybe an old mole run and maybe – but hopefully not – a rat.

We left it be.

And the hole was filled back in.

But not by me or my client – although each thought the other was responsible for reinstating the corner of the bed so neatly.

The next day, my client noticed the hole had been uncovered again.  And covered back up the next time she checked.  It was happening regularly.

One evening she put out some mealworms and her equally-intrigued husband set up a wildlife camera to watch the hole through the night.  They were rewarded with some lovely footage – of a delighted little field mouse who couldn’t believe his luck, and who worked tirelessly that night moving his unexpected treasure to a safe place.

The hole remained undisturbed.

The next day the hole was open again and later, duly covered up.  Suspicions were running high – it had to be human intervention, it was so neat.  Once filled in there was no evidence of the excavation, and heads were scratched again.  There was no other evidence of a rabbit in the garden either – no plants eaten off, no droppings, no tell-tale scuffling in the lawn. There was nothing in the garden to attract a rat. No bird feeders, and the asparagus bed is in a very open and accessible part of the garden. Not a rat’s preferred place. Could it be a pole cat? Google was consulted but didn’t know either.

My client’s husband – a gentle soul – set up a humane trap loaded with lettuce and carrots – and set up his camera again overnight.  Nothing.  Nothing even came to inspect the trap, let alone help itself to the generous buffet.  Not even the mealworm-stuffed field mouse.

The ground remained undisturbed.

And then I had a triumphant email – “We have the most amazing footage of our visitor – do come and see when you can.”  I was there within the hour.

I actually held my breath as the footage started playing on the laptop. And there she was.  At 5.00 am on the screen, a rabbit enter the frame and excavated the hole.  And then the truly miraculous part – four little baby bunnies came to the surface to feed from her.  Once full, the little ‘kittens’ (baby rabbits) then disappeared back down their burrow and mother rabbit backfilled it again as neatly as she had done for the last three weeks.

I don’t mind telling you I had tears in my eyes as I watched the clip – three times in a row.  The whole procedure took her just 9 minutes and we are still not sure where she goes for the rest of the time, as there is no evidence of her in the rest of the garden.

The burrow must be incredibly deep and strong as we have stood on the ground above numerous times and it hasn’t collapsed. Thank God.  And thank God she wasn’t carted off in the humane trap – with the best of intentions.

We deduced that when the hole was visible, the mother must have actually been inside feeding her young as they would have been too young to venture to the surface.  Or maybe she was even making the nest in the early days.  She must have nerves of steel as well as steel-like reinforcement in the burrow.

Google may not have been successful helping us solve the initial mystery but it does know that a rabbit’s milk is so rich it will sustain the kits for 24 hours, which explains why she could leave them for such long periods.  And a rabbit, unlike a bird, knows that if it were to sit on its nest it would just attract predators, hence ‘digging deep’ to protect her young.

Thanks to some technical help, you can now watch this amazing clip at www.lynneallbutt.co.uk/rabbit-response-parenting  Enjoy.