Hares on a Hillside

Tuesday, 13th July 2004, page 2 of 2
Wild West Yorkshire nature diary

9.30-9.45 p.m.

Barbara spots a hare coming down the edge of the open grassy field at the other side of the canal.

While this hare investigates the lower corner of the field Barbara notices a second hare at the top of the slope. Unlike the first, this stays in the same area.

By now the hare near us is lolloping - bunny-hopping you might say - along just opposite us. I've sometimes seen large rabbits and thought 'is this hare?' but when you see a hare there's no doubt about it. The ears, usually held vertically, are like twin exclamation marks, the proportions of the animal are like Disney's Goofy. It resembles a small deer as much as it does a rabbit.

It keeps its nose close to the ground, pausing occasionally to sniff or perhaps to nibble. It proceeds in a head-down posture, as if it's immitating a wheelbarrow.

Its eyes are so large that, seeing it head on through my binoculars in this dusky light, I wonder if it has myxomatosis.

Three more hares sit on a grassy crest mid-field, another hare is over to the right, making six in all. It's the most we've ever seen together.

Richard Bell, richard@willowisland.co.uk