FOXGLOVE

Now they are ready to start, and so we walk across the dew-soaked ground to the first of a series of small rabbit buries expressly chosen for this purpose.

We need several options because there are no guarantees that rabbits will be in a bury; just because there were rabbits in there a month ago and may be rabbits in there a month hence does not mean that it will be inhabited now.

This is why we bring the dog, for a trained rabbiting dog will scent the warren entrances without disturbing them, and then indicate with body language whether the bury is empty or not. And this is a day for the old dog, who knows the game inside out and has long outgrown youthful impetuousness.

He will be happy to wait while the young ferrets learn their trade, and if they are slow or inept, as many of us are when trying out something new, he will not be tempted to wander off the bury.

Much preparation goes into ferrets before they get this far in their education. They should be well-handled and completely secure in human company, relaxed about hands picking them up, and with seeing feet on the ground close to them.

They need to be familiar with wearing the tiny transmitter collars that tell us where they are underground. It is a bonus if they respond to a call or whistle: some do, some never will.

Their spacious accommodation at home is on several levels with interconnecting pipes, so they are used to the dark, to travelling along narrow tubes, and to sudden changes in height. They know what rabbit is, having been fed on rabbit carcases since they were weaned. But they have never seen a live rabbit.

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette October 31