Sore toes

 

Where have they all gone? At the beginning of November I knew I could reliably see at least 15 Brown Hares in one of the uncultivated fields at Halls farm. They were especially active in the early morning and the hour before sunset. Then, suddenly over a just a few days in mid November they just disappeared. It is not hard to understand why Hares have traditionally been attributed with mystical powers, how can such a large animals just disappear?

 

Tempting as it is to run with the mystic powers there must be practical explanations. Robert Honeywood says that as winter sets in Brown hares move into the woodland round the farm to shelter from the harsher weather, I will admit our spaniel has found more Hares in woodland during December. There are other explanations, the simplest is that the Hares still come out at the same time but the shortening days mean that it is dark. The colder weather and poorer food make Hares more solitary, they focus on eating and then rest to conserve energy. Finally, the winter cereal crops continue to grow and during the days some Hares are still in the fields but lying low and very difficult to see. Look very carefully and some of the small brown dots in the “tramlines” turn out to be Hares resting in a low scrapes.

 

It is now mid January and things are starting to change, the days are getting longer and a plus side to the wet Atlantic weather are mild temperatures. The hares are starting to reappear, on Saturday morning we saw four playing and starting to box each other . They are coming out on the Suffolk lanes during the day, I suspect they are getting away from unrelentingly wet fields that make their feet sore, as I have seen in some of the close photographs I have taken recently, the fur falls out from between their toes.

 

Over the coming weeks I am looking forward to seeing groups of ten or more Hares in day-light socialising and playing together in the open fields. I will try to predict where they will meet so that I can watch and hopefully photograph them more closely.BL3A9640