The ultimate Rabbit Ring Fencing of Orchard

Its one of them jobs that I wish I had done, before I had laid out our orchard over 20 years ago. All the headaches over trying to stop rabbits from chewing the apple shoots, and the bark stripping, might well be over.

It has also forced me into clearing some undergrowth back, and coppicing some hazels. Generally a good old tidy up. All the branches piled up to rot naturally, and as a cover for hedgehogs and all hosts of other animals.

75mm round treated wooden posts, knocked in every 3m or so. Chicken wire of 25mm mesh size, 1200mm high. This gives 900mm vertical and 300mm sideways. This sideways bit will get held down by new growing grass in the spring. But also stops the rabbits from trying to burrow under the vertical fence. Three horizontal 3.1mm dia galv wire, with bottom wire at ground level, with 2nd wire at 300mm from ground, and then the 3rd wire at the top. All chicken wire then tied into the horizontal wires.

Hopefully this will last for many many years, maybe 20 years. This is as opposed to maybe 2 years for the plastic rabbit spirals, which disintegrate.

I will have to think about adding some badger gates in the future, but the prime aim at the moment is to stop the rabbits.