Preventing hare damage to ash coppice

[Mike]

Any advice for preventing hare damage to our ash coppice. We have a small ash coppice (about a hectare) which is on an 8 year rotation. During the past couple of years I noticed some hare damage to some young oak and ash saplings. I've now protected these with tube spirals. It would be too costly to do the same for the ash coppice.

[greyman]

Hello Mike,

Welcome to the SWOG Forum.

Sad to hear of your damage - and a bit of a difficult one to advise on. I suspect some of us here would love to have a bit of the same problem just to have hares in the vicinity! Not much good to you though, as the suffering party! Hopefully others on the forum can give advice.

Greyman

[Henrietta]

No experience of hares, but I guess the problem would be much the same as rabbits. The only way we protect is with rabbit fencing which is netting, about three feet tall and bent out towards the outside of the fence with soil placed on the flat fencing. the rabbits try to burrow under the fence , but can't. The other way is to put up electric fencing, which is pretty expensive, but you can then move it around to other areas when and as needed.

[RichardKing]

How about making circles from metre high wire netting & holding it down with stakes.

I keep rabbits out of my garden with it, although I have to bury the bottom edge to stop them tunneling, but I would not think that should be a problem with hares.

Rolls of galvanised netting are fairly cheap from farm suppliers (not garden centres), quality varies a lot, some is very brittle & tears.

[coppiceer]

Could you give us some more details of the damage. Are they nibbling the new shoots, debarking stems or digging up the roots?

A photo or two would help as well.

I put fencing around my coppice 10 years ago. All was well until badgers burrowed under the fencing and lifted it up where they wanted to get in. Where badgers lead, browsers will folllow.

[Meadowcopse]

Have you tried 'hare restorer' ?

(sorry...)

I plot I help at near Oswestry had sapling damage in spring just above the top of the tree-tubes, looked like it was from frosty winds but turned out to be hares and short / spiral tree guards were low enough for them to browse.

Some recovered, but it did set things back.

[happybonzo]

Posted in error - sorry

[Mike]

Thanks for all your advice. I live on 12 acres in Co.Clare, Ireland and have planted some 6000 trees during the past 15 years. It was only last year that I noticed any hare damage. Perhaps the cold winter meant they were more hungry than normal + there was a lot of snow and frost on the ground and the young saplings offered them a tasty nibble! They only went for the 3-4 year old oak, ash and willow. Anyway they most survived and this we'll try the spiral tree guards. Also this winter I'll be more vigilant.