[rjones1259]

This might not be the best place to post this but you birders may well see these at the same time.

I am looking for sightings for the Brown Hare in the UK, with as much information as you can give so I can build up a picture of this rare Mammal.

I would very much like help with regards to sightings of Hares around Wiltshire.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Regards,

Robert Jones

www.fluorescentminerals.co.uk

[skink1978]

Hi Robert,
Not sure how much detail you want but Brown Hares are a familiar site around East Yorkshire. They can often be seen sat in fields over much of the county, and seem especially common around Flamborough.

[rozinante]

Hello Robert

Sorry I can't give any useful hard data but can confirm that I do still see them in the Dales. I wouldn't say regularly but often enough to be unremarkable beyond the pleasure they always give.

My only Wiltshire sighting was from within the circle of Stonehenge in 1971. Some of my fellow festival goers wove allsorts of mystical portents around it :)

In fact as I have always been lucky enough to frequently see hares in the areas of the UK I have spent most time in, i.e. Y. Dales, North Yorks Moors, Borders and E. Sussex, I perhaps don't credit the reality of their current situation.

[John Cantelo]

I occasionally see them at Dungeness. I've also regularly see a few when in North Norfolk, but my last sighting was of a suitably prepared specimen at Borough Market in London last Friday. Given how much scarcer they seem to be than in my youth (though that was in Hants not Kent) I'm a little suprised that the animal is still available from game dealers,

John

[GaryH]

Hello Rob,

We get very rare sightings of Hare at a local Lapwing site in Ebbw Vale, South Wales. We didn'nt see any last year but one turned up this week. They used to be fairly common 20 yrs ago but now they are quite rare. Take a look at "Gwent Birding" forum for a photo.

Gary

[Farnboro John]

I can usually find a dozen or so around the Odiham/Greywell area in Hampshire without great difficulty, and the fields around Bransbury Common near Andover are pretty hot for Brown Hares as well.

They are all the way up the valley bottom of the upper Findhorn (last year I found one there sitting on a boulder like a Trafalgar Square Lion - not a smart move in a valley that holds Golden and White-tailed Eagles, Buzzards, foxes and presumably Wildcats as well).

One can be seen scuttling across the runway at RAF Coningsby at the start of the Top Gear race between a Bugatti Veyron and a Eurofighter Typhoon. RAF airfields are in general quite good for hares.

John

[capercaillie]

What makes you think brown hare is rare? Its quite common in the East of Britain but rarer in the West, overall though it isnt rare. The brown hare Species Action Plan is up for renewal just now, I am hoping I can get the target lowered, it really shouldnt be a BAP species.

Beautiful animals to watch and in places such as Lower Saxony in Germany you have to watch where you put your feet when you go for a walk as there as so many of them they are a trip hazard!

[RobinD]

I agree that Hares are still fairly easy to see but I don't know about Wiltshire. There are plenty in the flood meadows of the Thames west of Oxford (Chimney NNR and beyond), very easy at Marson Vale Millenium Country Park near Bedford and at Havergate Island RSPB they used to be everywhere. (Haven't been for a few years)

ATB

Robin

[Perdix]

Near me in Shropshire they could almost be described as abundant on some estates. They are easy to find in the smaller woods, and out in the winter weat and rape fields. They are not shot around here and there are lots of game cover crops and set aside areas (for how much longer remains to be seen, however). The most I have seen at once recently was a loose group of 7 in a favoured rape field.

[weavers78]

Robert
Not sure if you are still looking for sightings or not but just to say saw yesterday 2 hares near Semington, Ordanance Map Ref ST 905611
Hopefully as the weather improves may well have more to send you as we get out and about more
Adrian Bass

[gareth_blockley]

Plenty in the right habitats in Oxon, south Warks, Bucks, Berks, Hants, Glos. I should imagine there are plenty in Wiltshire but dont get down there often.

Just out of interest what info do you want and why?

Gareth

[Woody]

plenty of hares on the Elmley reserve on Sheppey down here in Kent. Rarely go without seeing some.

Mike

[sidwemn]

I actually see Brown Hare regularly on the Steelworks on Teesside where I work. I manage to see them most times that I visit better areas (usually in the summer when I'm out looking for butterflies). There's probably a decent population on this industrialised site

Cheers
Martyn