Foxglove - Dec16 2009

Rats are turning up in the rabbit traps, having been flooded out of their own dwellings and moved into the higher parts of some of the rabbit buries.

That the lower levels are full of water too is made plain by the ferrets, and my wealden ferreting has come to a standstill, leaving me the downland areas to concentrate on instead.

One does not want to put a hand into a rabbit hole and find a rat: I have done this several times and I do not recommend it.

Some ferrets will bolt some rats, but other rats are bold and stand their ground, especially doe rats with young - and a doe rat is always pregnant and always suckling, once she is old enough. The rats I am finding here are well-fed and with luxuriant coats, a far cry from the scabrous balding creatures I come across in more urban environments.

No rat is match for a dog, and they are quickly dealt with. I think we shall have to have a Meet of the Sussex ratters here, once the school holidays start.

Grey squirrels are getting into the rabbit traps as well, more from curiosity than need, for they have their dreys and plenty of shelter in the trees. But squirrels are inquisitive creatures, and a trap excites their curiosity.

They too are fat and well-furred, and I have a good market for them. Tails go to the fly-fishermen, and the butcher is keen for the rest, for squirrels are superb eating, especially these well-fed examples.

Then there are the moles, and no, despite the lovely black velvet coats, there is no longer a market for these. You certainly would not want to eat one, not unless you were hungry enough to eat one of the rats as well.

I try to leave moles alone, but where they are causing damage to crops or vegetable gardens, they have to go. When their usual tunnels are at risk of flooding, they move to better-drained areas, which unfortunately are often cultivated. There have been no new molehills here since last time, so maybe I have caught the only culprit on this patch of land, for which the gardeners will be pleased.

And what of the rabbits? Am I getting rabbits in my rabbit traps? Just a few: most are lying up above ground now, in places where the brambles and old scrub give them shelter.

They are then at the mercy of the foxes, and also my own dogs, which delight in finding them, pushing them out of their thickets, and chasing them. Once on the run, the rabbits have the advantage, because they can skim over the saturated ground, while the dogs sink in above their wrists. If, however, a rabbit's feet get clogged up with mud, the tables are turned again, so very wet land sometimes helps the rabbit and sometimes the dog.

The last trap holds a rabbit, and the dog, knowing that she is not permitted to approach a trapped rabbit, nudges me with her nose and gives me one of those long looks.

I deal with the rabbit and re-set the trap, and the dog waits quietly, but with her eyes pleading. So I give her the dead rabbit to carry back to the vehicle, and she prances along beside me with her tail waving, grinning at me through a mouthful of fur, her reward for her restraint.