Duelling Hares
The beautiful Brown Hare, Lepus Europaeus is a gentle, shy, quiet and solitary creature by nature, spending all its life on open ground. Hares can be found on agricultural land, around the edges of woodlands and prefer a ‘hilly’ terrain enabling them to escape uphill quickly away from danger. You will often see hares in the company of a cock pheasant, an extra pair of eyes alerting the hare of any potential predators. However, some have moved closer to towns and villages and have made their homes in local churchyards and cemeteries, where a vast array of grasses, wildflowers, mosses and lichens grow in abundance. I have had the privilege of studying these wonderful creatures in several local churchyards and on open farmland near my home. I discovered whilst riding my beloved horse Rocky that I can observe these beautiful animals at close quarters without them detecting my presence, thus enabling me to witness the intimate moments of their hidden lives.
Towards the end of February, the hare starts to crave companionship. He leaves his ‘form’ to go in search of a mate. When two ‘Jacks’ meet they size one another up then rear up onto their hind legs. They will then dance around each other using their fore paws in a boxing like action. Waiting for an opportunity, they will endeavour to strike a heavy blow with their powerful hind legs to knock their opponent out. His prize is to mate with the female (Jill).
Unlike the rabbit which is a social animal living in close proximity to each other below ground, its young being born naked and blind, the solitary hare’s young come into this world with their eyes wide open and fully clad for protection from the weather. The young leverets rely on their colouration to protect them from predators as it blends so well with its surroundings, making them difficult to spot by the fox, the dog and the buzzard.
We have all heard the nursery rhyme ‘Jack and Jill went up the hill’ it was the hare that inspired this story. The old hare a ‘hind’ can run at a staggering 45 mph to escape his enemies. This graceful and majestic creature which is sadly in decline has been persecuted for many years by man. Once man hunted for necessity but now, he hunts in the leisure of his time. For the animals they hunt and kill they have no pity. They lack this incipient human instinct and misunderstand and deride it in others. However, I have found a wonderful substitute for the dog and the gun, it’s called a camera. Why not take its picture and study its beauty, grace and elegance. Hares can be enjoyed for what they give to the countryside, and for the pleasure they give to us all. We need grazing animals like the rabbit and the hare to create open areas of wild herbage to establish, which in turn creates wild medicine for all creatures to procure and beautiful wildflowers to gain a foothold.
The hare has a natural lifespan of three to four years. They eat mainly grasses and wildflowers. In the wintertime however, they will nibble on juniper and willow twigs, also tree bark, lichen and leaves.
We must endeavour to educate our children of the values of these majestic creatures and that they must remain a part of our ever-decreasing wildlife and countryside, for its rewards will benefit us all tenfold.
