Peter Rabbit Is a Pest Species!

How Rabbits Wreak Havoc on the Australian Landscape

It’s the 1970s, and one of my earliest reading memories involves a very cheeky little rabbit.

Peter Rabbit.

He was brave, mischievous and endlessly curious - far more adventurous than his sensible sisters, Flopsy, Mopsy and Cotton-tail. And then there was the villain of the story: the grumpy farmer, Mr McGregor, who selfishly refused to share his French beans and radishes.

Poor Peter Rabbit.

Mean Mr McGregor! 

Fast forward to 2026… and how my perspective has changed.

These days I manage a block of rural conservation land in regional Victoria. I’m surrounded by native wildlife, farmland and a landscape absolutely pockmarked with rabbit holes. Burrows collapse underfoot, seedlings vanish overnight, and erosion scars the soil.

Turns out… I’m Mr McGregor now.  And the rabbits? They’re one of Australia’s most destructive invasive pest species.

Fast forward to 2026… and how my perspective has changed.

Rabbits Don’t Belong Here

Rabbits are not native to Australia.

They arrived over 160 years ago on a ship from England, brought over by a wealthy English colonist named Thomas Austin. In 1859, he released just 24 rabbits onto his property, Barwon Park, near Geelong in Victoria.

Why did he bring them?

Not for food. Not for nostalgia. But for sport - so he could hunt them.

As rabbits do best… some escaped.

And that small act sparked one of the most dramatic ecological disasters in Australia’s history.

(You can still visit Barwon Mansion today - now a National Trust property - and walk the same grounds where this story began.)

How Rabbits Wreak Havoc on the Australian Landscape

Breeding Like… Well, Rabbits

Rabbits are prolific breeders.

A single pair of rabbits can multiply into up to 180 rabbits in just 18 months.

They dig extensive underground burrow systems that:

• Damage tree and plant root systems

• Cause soil erosion

• Create unstable ground for livestock and native animals

And when it comes to eating… rabbits don’t mess around.

They are voracious herbivores, grazing plants right down to the ground and eating up to one-third of their body weight every single day.

This includes:

• Native plants

• Seedlings and regenerating vegetation

• Valuable pasture

• Crops and herbs

They also compete directly with native animals for food and shelter - and spread weed seeds far and wide.

Suddenly Flopsy, Mopsy and Cotton-tail don’t seem quite so innocent…

The breeding cycle of rabbits

Don’t We Have Predators?

Yes… and no.

Australia does have some rabbit predators, but many of them - like foxes and feral cats - are also introduced pest species that cause enormous harm to native wildlife.

One native predator does love rabbits though: the wedge-tailed eagle.

In fact, I do recall reading that a wedge-tail eagle could potentially eat one rabbit a day, so a pair of wedge-tailed eagles on a property could be taking in excess of 700 rabbits a year.   Nature doing its thing - when we let it!

And then there’s us.

As human apex predators, we’ve also found many culinary uses for rabbits:

• Rabbit pot pie

• Thai rabbit curry

• Pan-fried rabbit thighs soaked in buttermilk and crumbed (one of my favourites!)

Eating feral animals can be surprisingly… posh!

Why Teaching Children Matters

There is no quick fix to Australia’s rabbit problem.

But one of the most powerful tools we do have is education.

It’s vital that we teach the next generation of nature stewards that:

• Rabbits are invasive, not native

• Cute doesn’t mean harmless

• Human choices have long-lasting environmental consequences

  
  

By sharing the story of how rabbits arrived in Australia, children begin to understand:

• What invasive species are

• How ecosystems can become unbalanced

• Why food webs matter

• That eating feral species like rabbits can be delicious

• How protecting native biodiversity requires informed action

Peter Rabbit might be a beloved storybook character - but in Australia, rabbits are anything but harmless.

And understanding that difference is the first step towards caring for our unique and fragile landscape.

Want to learn more about native and invasive species?

If this kind of ecological storytelling fascinates you, I run workshops on:

• Bees

• Looking after nature

• The food web

• Biodiversity

• Pollinators

• Sustainability

• and the incredible interconnections of our natural world

  
  

I’d love to share this wonder with your school, community group or organisation.

Contact us

Friends with Honey Incursion Programs and Education

There is so much more to learn! Does honey have bee hairs in it?

One of the things I love most about the work I do, is the curious minds of the children I teach.  Kids have an incredible fascination with the natural world. Bees, in particular, capture imaginations like few other creatures. They fly, they dance, they make honey, they work as a team; they are a superorganism! - what’s not to wonder about?

I always tell children during our programs: “I’ve taught you a little bit today… but there is so much more to learn.” And that’s usually the moment when I’m rewarded with the BEST questions - the wonderfully unexpected, delightfully curious kind.

One question that popped up this week, is one that I’ve never been asked before:

“If bees are hairy… do their hairs end up in our honey?”

We all know that moment of horror when we find a human hair lurking in our food.  But a bee hair in honey?  I’ll be honest - I hadn’t thought much about it until I was asked.  But once you start digging into the answer, it turns out to be a fantastic window into bee biology, evolution, and just how clever bees really are.

A jar of honey - straight from the hive!

Why are bees so hairy anyway? 

If you’ve ever seen a macro photo of a bee, you’ll know they are absolutely covered in tiny hairs - from head to toe. This isn’t an accident!

Bees evolved from predatory wasps around 120 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period - yes, back when dinosaurs were roaming the Earth! As flowering plants (called angiosperms) began to spread, some wasps shifted from hunting insects to feeding their larvae on pollen and nectar.

This dramatic dietary change - from meat to a plant-based menu - drove physical changes over time. Hairy bodies turned out to be perfect for collecting pollen, and slowly, those wasp ancestors became the first bees. Bees and flowers evolved together, forming one of nature’s most successful partnerships.

Bees are hairy!

A perfect pollination partnership 

When bees visit flowers, they’re after a sweet reward - nectar.  But while they’re busy slurping nectar, pollen sticks to their hairy bodies and gets carried from flower to flower.

The result?

• Bees get food

• Flowers get pollinated

• Plants can make seeds and fruit

It’s a beautifully balanced symbiotic relationship - one that supports much of the food we eat.

What happens to the nectar inside the hive? (it’s fascinating… and a little gross to humans)

Once back at the hive, the nectar doesn’t magically turn into honey straight away.

Bees regurgitate and pass nectar from mouth to mouth, using their long tongues (called a proboscis). This process is known as trophallaxis - it is a big word but it really just means nectar sharing.  It helps reduce the water content of the nectar and adds enzymes that begin turning it into honey.

It might sound a bit gross to us - but for bees, it’s perfectly normal.

No hair nets or gloves?!

A world away from human run industrial kitchens, inside the hive bees make honey without hair nets, gloves, or stainless-steel. But here’s the incredible part:

Bees are meticulous cleaners.

• They groom themselves constantly

• They groom each other

• Younger house bees remove debris from the hive

In fact, the very first job a worker bee does when she hatches is to clean her own bedroom. Cleaning is quite literally in their DNA.

Before honey cells are sealed with wax, bees clean them thoroughly. And once honey thickens, its sticky texture actually traps particles, stopping them from floating around.

So no — bees aren’t casually dropping hairs into honey and moving on. And one of reasons that honey lasts so long is because its natural composition - specifically its low moisture content and high acidity, making it an inhospitable environment where bacteria and microorganisms cannot survive.

From hive to jar: the beekeeper’s role

One of the reasons I love honey so much (and eat it everyday!) is that it comes entirely from nature and requires very little processing. Compared to many foods on our supermarket shelves, honey is about as pure as it gets.

Here’s what happens:

1. A beekeeper removes a full frame of honeycomb

2. The wax capping is gently scraped or cut off

3. The frame goes into a spinner (called a honey extractor)

4. Honey spins out and settles at the bottom

5. It’s then strained through sieves and filters
   

This process removes wax, pollen, and any tiny debris - including bee hairs.

Could you ever find one? Possibly. Bee hairs are incredibly fine. But just like us, bees lose hairs… and just like us, they don’t want them in their food either!

Spinning and filtering honey

Curiosity for tasting honey!

During our programs, we get to taste delicious honey from my farm, and talk about the amazing journey it’s taken - from flower to hive to jar. And sometimes, that journey starts with a child asking an unexpected question about bee hair.

Those moments of curiosity? That’s where the real learning happens. Because when children ask questions about bees and nature, they’re not just learning facts - they’re learning how to wonder, question, and care about the world around them.

Want to ask more questions?

If this kind of ecological storytelling fascinates you, I run workshops on:

• Bees

• Looking after nature

• The food web

• Biodiversity

• Pollinators

• Sustainability

• and the incredible interconnectedness of our natural world

  
  

I’d love to share this wonder with your school, community group or organisation.

Contact us

When The Rain Finally Came: What The Recent Drought Taught Me About Water, Catchments, and Caring for Country

I never thought I’d say this with more conviction - I love it when it rains!!!

This year, Western Victoria was hit by a severe drought, and our dams dried up completely. At first, we suspected a leak in the dam wall, but as we looked across the parched landscape and saw neighbouring farms’ dams empty as well, it became clear we were experiencing one of the worst droughts in decades.

It was the cracked, dry basin of the dam that made me stop and truly think about water -Where does it come from? Where does it go? And how can something so essential disappear so fast?

I realised that if I wanted answers, I needed to understand how water flows through our landscape.

The dry basin of our dam during the recent drought in Western Victoria

What is a Catchment?

A catchment is simply an area of land where water collects when it rains. Gravity pulls the water downhill into creeks, rivers, groundwater, reservoirs - and eventually to our taps.

Catchments are shaped by nature over thousands (or millions!) of years. Humans don’t make them… but we certainly influence them.

Think of a catchment as a giant natural filter:

• Healthy forests, wetlands, and soils slow the flow of water.

• Vegetation traps sediments and pollutants.

• Clean water enters creeks and reservoirs
  

Every one of us lives in a catchment – even if it's just our own roof feeding a water tank.

Worms in the ground - always a good sign!

When the dams dried up

When our dam dried up, it left behind more than cracked mud.  It revealed what had been happening on the land around us.

As water moves across a catchment, it carries everything on the surface with it.

Sediments – soil, sand, dust

These make water cloudy and can smother aquatic plants and fish eggs. During the drought, neighbouring properties were grazed bare as animals searched for any green pick.  Without ground cover, soil is washed straight into waterways.

Nutrients – nitrogen and phosphorus

Mostly from fertilisers and animal poo. Too many nutrients = algal blooms.

When rain finally hit our empty dam it was full of animal droppings and other nutrients. This caused a thick algal bloom cowering the water.  Luckily, heavy rains flushed it out and the frogs started croaking.

Pathogens (germs)

These can contaminate drinking water and watering holes.  In the drought we sadly saw livestock that had died in the shallows of dams - heartbreaking and a brutal reminder of how harsh our environment can be.  The stinky water was putrid and made the water undrinkable for livestock and wildlife.

Chemicals & pesticides

Herbicides, fuel, grease, and household cleaners can wash downhill.  We avoid this by using biodegradable cleaning products and cycling our greywater through composting beds.

Heavy metals

From dump sites, machinery, vehicles and old sheds.  It’s astonishing how often I see old car parts and other junk piles left to rust, releasing lead, copper, zinc, and more into the soil.

Litter & microplastics

We live 5 km up a 4WD track… and still find plastic drifting in on the wind or washed in by water. Picking up a plastic bag that crumbles into tiny fragments is devastating and a harsh reminder that microplastics go everywhere - from soils to streams to the digestive systems of wildlife.

An Algal Bloom on the surface of our dam

So What Can We Do?

When we care for the land, we care for the water. 

Healthy land = healthy water.

Here are some of the things we’re doing on our 45-acre property - and that anyone can do, on any scale:

1. Restore and protect vegetation

Our farm sits in the Goldfields bioregion, once dominated by Grassy Dry Forests. After the Gold Rush and decades of grazing, much of this ecosystem is depleted.  Trees were cut, soils were exposed, and erosion began.

Vegetation slows water, stabilises soil, and filters pollutants.  So we’ve been:

• Direct seeding native plants

• Removing invasive weeds

• Looking at the natural water flow paths and how we can plant along them

  
  

2. Reduce erosion

Bare soil equals sediment in waterways. We’ve been adding:

• Logs

• Swales

• Erosion-control structures like large rocks

  
  

These slow the water, encourage filtration, and stop soil from washing away.

3. Capture water wisely

While catchments are natural, the water storages we build within them are not.

Man-made structures include:

• Dams

• Water tanks

• Reservoirs

• Pipes and channels

• Stormwater drains

  
  

On our farm, we collect roof runoff in tanks and store water in two dams - precious supplies during dry years for us and the local wildlife.

4. Observe and learn through citizen science

We use FrogID and iNaturalist to track the biodiversity on our land. These observations help us spot changes early and respond before issues worsen.

Can Humans Reduce Droughts?

We can't control rain - but we can influence how landscapes cope with drought.

• Healthy catchments hold water longer.

• Ground cover keeps soil moist.

• Vegetation shades creeks and slows evaporation.

• Biodiverse ecosystems are more resilient!
  

Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of droughts, but by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and restoring landscapes, we can ease their impacts.

Biodiverse landscapes are more resilient - a gorgeous Shingleback Lizard (Tiliqua rugosa) in the grass on our farm

Appreciation for Water

Droughts are part of living in Australia. They’ve been here long before us, and they will always come and go. But this recent drought really opened my eyes.  Water is precious - far more precious than I realised.

I can’t control how much rain falls in on our farm.  But I can control how well we look after the land that catches, holds, and filters that water. And that’s something every one of us can do, wherever we live.

Want to Explore Healthy Waterways With Me?

If this kind of ecological storytelling fascinates you, I run workshops on:

• looking after nature

• the food web

• biodiversity

• pollinators

• sustainability

• and the incredible interconnectedness of our natural world

  
  

I’d love to share this wonder with your school, community group or organisation.

Contact us