European or Brown Hare – Lepus europaeus

We landed back in to Heathrow this morning after an over-night flight from Cape Town. We had a wonderful stay. Two weeks was never enough and we just scratched the surface. My strategy when I am away is always to concentrate on easily seen species and to try and get the best photos that I can and not chase around after rarities or just "ticks" for a list. Havind said that I photographed numerous "endemic" species, species that are found only in the Cape. I am yet to compile a list, that will come later. These endemics were obviously new species for me and I am going to be able to add 50 or so new species to my galleries. There will be more photos and posts about South Africa during the next few weeks but in the meanwhile I need to show the photos that I took on Salisbury Plain this afternoon.

I have only managed one quite poor photo of a Brown Hare before but I am always on the look out so image in how pleased I was to see three this afternoon in a field on Salisbury Plain.

We were driving back home to Exeter, admiring the snow scenes from the A303, snow, in itself a rarity in the UK. Whenever I drive through Salisbury Plain I look out for Hares, they seem to be common in that part of the UK even though they are not in the least bit common anywhere else in the UK. Anyway as luck would have it, I noticed a couple of Hare in a field very near to Stonehenge on the A30 and near a lay-by. We pulled in for a coffee break and I took the camera to the fence where I could see them now starting to chase around and "box". Brown Hares are shyish creatures but in the spring they are seen out in the open during the daylight. The boxing and fighting is part of the mating ritual. It was a surprise to see Hares "courting" weeks and weeks before spring and in a snowstorm. But it was the contrast of brown animals on white background which made them noticeable in the first instance.

In this image the male is the animal on the left, the female is rejecting him and runs to ram him in the side and is just about to make contact…..must be painful!  All the time a Carrion Crow looks on,this gives us a good idea of the size of the hares.