Techniques to encourage European rabbit recovery: A Toolkit for Landowners

Contrary to an often negative perception of the European rabbit’s ecological value, the species plays an essential role as a landscape engineer in many UK ecosystems. Their population has, however, been declining drastically since 1953. The Shifting Sands project has trialled different habitat management techniques, designed to boost rabbit numbers in areas where they are promoting biodiversity. The results of this project support the use of brush piles as a cost-effective tool to encourage rabbit burrowing and other activity. The effectiveness varied across study sites. This document has been advised by specialists and the results of the field trials to provide practical conservation techniques for local implementation, designed to encourage rabbit recovery.