What is eating the bark?

[Rossyboy]

We walk our dog on a local estate in Northumberland. After the heavy snow we had through january and february we discovered that the bark of some of the trees was being eaten. The bark is being consumed from the trunk base and upwards to about 18 inches. The tree victims are both coniferous and deciduous trees...

Can anyone identify what could be doing this?

[valleyforge]

rabbits

[Rossyboy]

Why so much compared to anywhere else. And why this year? The hard winter forced them to eat the bark as it was the only food exposed? Now the like it!

[valleyforge]

Bark chewing is typically most noticeable during long periods of deep snow cover, when rabbits are unable to reach grass or other ground plant forage.

The deeper the snow, the higher up the bark damage of course. There's not a lot of nutrient value in bark of course, but rabbits need to keep their gut full of something, plus they need to continually wear down their teeth, so the practise fullfils both needs.

Lagomorphs such as rabbits are able to extract some further nutient value from such hard-to-digest fibrous material by reconsuming their fecal pellets ... in this way they can often eak out just sufficient nurishment in order to keep alive during the worst of winters ... it's pretty tough on them though and I'm afraid it hasn't been unusual this year to find in the forests around here, the near skeletal remains of those who didn't make it.

You should find that rabbits will leave trees well enough alone, just as soon as a more viable food source becomes readily available again.

It's worth mentioning perhaps that voles too will damage trees in this way to some extent, but they normally do so below the surface of the snow, such that the damage only becomes visible after the thaw.

[Midgie]

I've seen quite a lot of bark-stripping this year, most of it a bit higher than in rossyboy's photo. I caught a hare in the act one day.

[DunkeryMunkery]

Deer.