The Hare
A shy creature, the wild hare is not such a common sight as it once was in Britain. But early morning they can still be seen on the northern fells and pastures.
My boxes show hares running, sitting up and “boxing” as they are sometimes seen up on their hindlegs pawing each other. In the spring they bound around, leaping and chasing each other, this behaviour giving rise to the phrase “As mad as a March hare”
To see larger images of these decorative boxes click on the image or “Buy Now!” link. Scroll down for more about these shy creatures.
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The Brown Hare
Bigger than a rabbit with much longer black-tipped ears, longer tail and limbs the brown hare originated in Asia. It runs much faster than a rabbit and can change direction sharply so can often elude being caught by predators even if it cannot outrun them. The brown hare was probably introduced into Britain by the Romans.
Hares like open grassland and farmland and live off herbs, grasses and cereal crops. Their numbers have declined in Britain over the last few decades mainly due to differences in farming methods. With the change to larger fields with only one cereal crop in a year food is not available year round for the hare.
Brown hares come out after dusk to find food. At dawn they return to their forms, a shallow depression in the ground that affords them some shelter from wind and rain. They lie in their forms with ears down flat and are almost invisible to the passing human in long grass or heather.
The mad March hare behaviour occurs between a female hare showing a male she does not want to mate. She will rare up on her hind legs and punch with her front paws and lash out with her hind legs too. The breeding season can last from the end of January until August. March is probably when most people observe this behaviour as the evenings begin to lengthen and the crops are not so tall that the hares are hidden from view.
