Boxing Clever

I often see hares when I'm on my wanderings, I am fortunate the land I have access to is farmed well and many of our Trust reserves either have them present or land adjacent does. They have been in quite a steep decline dropping over 80% over the past one hundred years, largely as a result of changes in agricultural practice. Many farms are now single focus businesses either livestock or cereal/arable farms. Gone are the days of mixed farming where there was a 4 year rotation between livestock and mixed arable.

The brown hare

We have lost somewhere near 150,000 miles of hedgerows in the past 50 years to accommodate larger machinery and high single crop yields, this deprives the hare of food and shelter. Thus the hare has suffered as they prefer a patchwork of year round opportunities to graze on herbs and grasses.

The declines have been felt worst in the west of the country but even in the east and its rich arable lands the declines have been seen where arable practices have excluded agri-environment options.

Replanting hedgerows, not flailing existing ones to an inch of their lives and most importantly leaving field margins definitely improve the hare’s lot.

Top speed 50km/hr, this one is still in second gear it hasnt even bothered to flatten its ears yet

We are coming to the best time of the year to see hares and if you’re fortunate to have hares in your area you can be treated to some barnstorming fun as they get into full on mad March hare mode.

Steeped in folklore the hare most commonly seen in the UK is the brown hare but we also have two other species in the British and Irish isles. The blue or mountain hare found mainly in Scotland but also present in small numbers in the Peak District; we also have the Irish hare which is remarkable in being probably one of the oldest residents of these Isles, being present in the fossil record for up to 60,000 BP.

In Northeast we only have the brown hare although many years ago there were reports of mountain hare in the Cheviot's, I did see one I suspected of being a mountain hare at distance about 15 years ago but I'm really not sure now.


Boxing hares in April

 There are many misconceptions surrounding hares such as seeing boxing hares only in March, their breeding season runs from January throughout to early summer and baby hares, leverets as they are called, can be found anytime during this period.

Sitting still in the stubble

I saw my first hares this past week, about a half a dozen of them sitting around on some left over winter stubble looking like ancient megaliths dotted morosely around in a loose grouping. Every so often there was a burst of energy as the males would chase each other whilst a bout of boxing was from the females trying to beat off their would be suitors. They used to think it was all males that carried out these bouts of pugilism but now it is known to be mainly females that do the boxing, the males just chase each other with the occasional handbags at thirty paces.

When in full flow this can be a breathtaking spectacle as the hair flies and the grunts and hisses of the combatants become quite audible as speeds of up to 50km/hour are reached as they pursue each other.



Now this one is shifting

 The brown hare is not a true native, it was probably introduced with Iron Age farmers as a source of food and sport some 2000 to 3000 years ago, as the ancient woods had given way to pasture and crop systems. It has however certainly been here long enough to enter folklore and language.

The origins of the Easter bunny do not lie in a doe eye rabbit it originates from ancient Celtic beliefs and customs, it was hijacked by early Christians and later generations did away with the goat eyed hare (the devil incarnate) in favour of the fluffy bunny rabbit but its presence in our culture is eternally ingrained in many a place name.

Just to the northwest of Morpeth lie the hamlets of Harelaw and Haredene which are next to Doe Hill Farm. These names all originate from the ancient presence of the hare and today these are still good locations to see hares and a sharp lookout from the car window in those vicinities will often be rewarded with a view of a hare sitting in a field.



The rear end of a departing hare

 Mostly however it is only the rear end of one we see, as it accelerates away from our errant pooches who disturb them from their forms on their walk. It is always of interest as to where and when people see wildlife so if anyone does see a hare or a ‘boxing ring’ let us know, I think they are a good indicator that something is right in that area and all add to our knowledge of species distribution.