Wild Wanderings

Majik the Hare

Diary Entry 7th June 2018

Things have really started to move now with the birds but not so much the bees. Every day bedraggled individuals are appearing scavenging around desperately for morsels. Parental duties are taking their toll.

Robins, Blue Tit, Yellowhammer have all been examples. Magpies and Carrion Crows have been stealing lots of scraps in beakfulls obviously feeding hungry little mouths.

Butterflies though are scarce at the moment. I usually record Small Tortoiseshell and Whites plus a few Speckled Woods around this time of the year, but none have appeared yet.

Also, Cinnabar Moths are usually flying now and I have only seen one. You can’t really miss them. Their brightly coloured purple and red standing out strongly anywhere they settle.

One joy this past few days has been an encounter with a young leveret (Hare) whom I have named ‘Majik’ We have at least one pair and maybe two pairs resident in our fields. The change of crop this year to potatoes seems to have made their appearances a bit infrequent though. Hare love to feed on stubble crop fields or fallow ground. The hare's diet is very similar to the rabbit's. They are strictly herbivores that feed by grazing on plants such as grasses, clover, and dandelions, and also leaves, twigs, buds, bark of young trees, roots, and seeds.

Hares have also a long history in folk lore and are the subject of many mystical tales. I must admit I do love to see them. They have a charisma about them and are very inquisitive and intelligent. One moment they can be staring at and studying you and the next they can be off at 100mph across the field (actually they can travel at about 45mph top speed which is still pretty fast) so any encounter with them is always exciting.

I had decided to take a stroll using the main driveway of the farm which is quite rough and gravelly and didn’t expect to see much. As I approached the top end nearest the road ‘Majik’ just appeared loping along towards me. I couldn’t quite believe it. He didn’t seem spooked by my presence at all. They will usually stop stone still and drop their ears back and freeze momentarily before tearing off. Majik did none of this he just gambled along, stropping and starting and looking at me, in between sniffing the ground and looking around a few times. I dropped to my knee to make myself less threatening and slowly lifted my camera. Lifting the camera usually makes them panic but not Majik, he sat down and posed for a few photos. I felt very special and almost seemed in communication with him. I was no threat and he seemed to sense that. He slowly ambled a little closer and then suddenly his ears dropped , a tractor had turned into the drive and he slipped through the fence into the field. I thought that was the end of the close encounter but after the tractor had passed he appeared back onto the drive only this time a little further away. I walked slowly towards him with my camera raised and manged to get another couple of shots and he was still fairly relaxed but a bit warier. I got to within about 12 meters of him before he decided to make off but still did not bolt away. I watched him for about another 5 minutes slope way into the wheat field and that was it he was gone. A beautiful few minutes in the presence of a peaceful creature.

I will keep an eye open for his reappearance, hopefully very soon.

‘Till tomorrow