brown hares in the derbyshire dales - sample pages

brown hares in the D

erbyshire Dales

Christin

e Greg

ory

Christine Gregory is a writer, photographer and painter. Having taught social and political stud-ies in adult and community education for over 20 years, she went on to teach radio skills and print journalism in further education. She has made community-based radio programmes for BBC Radio Sheffield and features for BBC Radio 4, although now concentrates full time on writing, painting and photography.

She lives in the Derbyshire Dales of the Peak District where she has been following, studying and photographing brown hares in their natural habitat for several years. This book, Brown Hares in the Derbyshire Dales, first published in 2010, is the result of a life-long love of the countryside and a personal concern for the environment.

Brown Hares in the Derbyshire Dales is a written and photographic celebration of one of the Peak District’s most secretive and enigmatic animals. Meticulously researched and beautifully illustrated with over 100 colour photographs, this book gives a unique insight into the life, habitat and history of a much loved, yet threatened, species.

First published in 2010 to coincide with the Inter-national Year of Biodiversity, this new edition – with more than 60 new photos – is intended to raise awareness of the brown hare (Lepus europaeus), which is now extinct in parts of Britain and listed as a priority species in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan.

The book is split into two sections; the first describes the brown hare, what differentiates them from rabbits and other hares, their breed-ing patterns, courtship, boxing, their remarkable speed and agility, their habitat, what they eat, and their history in the UK and the Derbyshire Dales. There are also tips on where and how to see hares in the wild.

The second section, biodiversity, sets the hare in the context of the rapid and extensive loss of their preferred natural habitat, primarily wildflower meadows and traditional grasslands, now almost eradicated by intensive farming systems in some areas. Balanced yet thought-provoking reflections on these modern farming methods are supplemented by accounts from local farmers, including Lord Edward Manners of Haddon Hall, interviewed especially for the book by the author.

From local author and photographer Christine Gregory, Brown Hares in the Derbyshire Dales is an enlightening and captivating portrait of a beautiful British mammal.

Front cover photo: Hare in frosty grass at dawnBack cover photo: Hare using a wall as its look out above Lathkill Dale in March Author photo: Paul Adams

ISBN: 978-1-906148-56-0

Vertebrate PublishingCrescent House, 228 Psalter Lane, Sheffield S11 8UTwww.v-publishing.co.uk £16.99

“ It features wonderful images of the hares themselves, a testimony to the author’s patience, fieldcraft and expertise as a photographer … Underlying the photography, the text carries a powerful conservation message, emphasising the importance of habitat diversity, for the hares and for the rest of the associated wildlife.”

Dr. Derek Yalden, Mammal News

“ A neat balance of factual information and romantic musings, accompanied by some great photography.”

Country Walking Magazine

“ Christine Gregory’s book is a worthy addition to the tradition of natural history writing. It is scientifically accurate, well-written and a homage to an animal Christine is clearly fond of.”

Jim Dixon, Chief ExecutivePeak District National Park AuthorityWILDLIFE / CONSERVATION / PHOTOGRAPHY

brown hares in the Derbyshire Dales

Christine Gregory

The story of one of the Peak District's most enigmatic mammals

967g Brown Hares_cover final.indd 1 25/06/2012 12:36

One of the declared aims of the United Kingdom Biodiversity Action Plan was to ‘Use the popularity of brown hares to highlight the impact on biodiversity

of modern agricultural practices and loss of mixed farms’.

This book attempts in a small way to do just that.

brown hares in the Derbyshire Dales

Christine Gregory

The story of one of the Peak District's most enigmatic mammals

967g Brown Hares_inside.indd 1 25/06/2012 14:02

Brown Hares in the Derbyshire DalesChristine Gregory

This second edition first published in 2012 by Vertebrate Publishing. First published in 2010 by Lepusbook.

Vertebrate PublishingCrescent House, 228 Psalter Lane, Sheffield, S11 8UTwww.v-publishing.co.uk

Copyright © Christine Gregory 2012.Foreword copyright © Derek Yalden 2012.

Photography by Christine Gregory unless otherwise credited.

Christine Gregory has asserted her rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as author of this work.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-1-906148-56-0

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means – graphic, electronic, or mechanised, including photocopying, recording, taping or information storage and retrieval systems – without the written permission of the publisher.

Designed and typeset in Teen and Sabon by Jane Beagley, Vertebrate Graphics Ltd, Sheffield.www.v-graphics.co.uk

Printed and bound in China by Latitude Press Ltd.

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Above Looking north across Lathkill Dale in July Previous page Hare at dusk in September


viii

Hare sitting on its haunches


ix

contents

Foreword x Introduction xii

Part 1 The hare The hare 5 What is a hare? 6 How to tell a rabbit from a hare 8 Two very different lives 11 Life cycle of the hare 12 Predators 14 Population decline 17 Modern arable farming 18 Courtship 22 Boxing 29 Built for speed 30 Senses 33 The great escapist 34 Where hares live 40 Home ranges 46 What hares eat 50 How and where to see hares 53 A guide to watching hares 58 Hares and grazing stock 62

Leverets 67 Hares and field sports 77 Does sport help to preserve hares? 86 Winter survival 91 Creature of myth and magic 98

Part 2 Biodiversity Wildflower meadows 104 Farmland birds of the Dales 109 What’s good for hares is good for us 116 Farming in the Derbyshire Dales 122 The future 137 Appendices 1 The mountain hare and the Irish hare 138 2 Diseases of the hare 139 3 Hares and the law 139 4 Loss of farmland birds 140 5 Hare conservation: Dos and don’ts 141 Bibliography 142 Acknowledgements 144


x

foreword

Since its introduction by our Celtic forebears about 2,000 years ago, the brown hare has become an integral part of our farmland wildlife. Common enough and large enough to be seen fairly regularly, and therefore familiar, it is nevertheless sufficiently reclusive to be a mammal of some mystery and mythology. Unfortunately, as a typical farmland animal, it has also become another species of concern, like skylarks and lapwings, yellowhammers and linnets. It is no longer as widespread as it used to be 50 years ago, and in particular it is now scarce or absent in much of Wales and the west country.

Fortunately, we still have a good population in the Peak District, especially around the limestone dales. Even more fortunately, we have in Christine Gregory someone who has been willing and able to spend many hours studying and photographing them in those dales. As a consequence, she has assembled a wonderful portfolio of photographs, of both hares and their habitats, as well as an intimate understanding of the ways they use the landscape. I am no photographer, and lack the patience to devote the time she has to the benign pursuit of her quarry. So I can only look with admiration and

wonder at these photographs. They include not just pin-sharp portraits and evocative habitats, but fascinating behaviour. I know hares are careful about grooming themselves, and that they lick themselves like cats, because I have read the books. But I’ve never seen one spreading its toes to clean them, still less dreamt of photographing this behaviour! Nor have I seen five chasing after each other in a courtship chase. Treasures indeed, these images.

Because it has declined so much nationally, and despite its (strictly) non-native status, the brown hare is officially a species of conservation concern. A target was set to double its numbers in the decade to 2010. We suspect that we did not quite meet this target, but the necessary steps to do so, improving the wildlife value of headlands, conservation strips and dale-sides, are demonstrated here. Where hares still occur, as in the White Peak, they are doing quite well. The landscape features important to them, and their other farmland associates, need to be spread into the wider agricultural landscapes of Britain. There is a message of hope here, and a beauti-fully illustrated one at that.

Dr. Derek YaldenPresident, The Mammal Society


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Hare in early morning dew


xii

introduction

In this International Year of Biodiversity, let us reflect on the root causes of biodiversity decline and take action to arrest it. Let us adjust policies and mindsets to reflect the true value of species and habitats. Let us recognize that biodiversity is life — our life. Let us act now to preserve it, before it is too late.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message for the International Day for Biological Diversity on 22 May 2010

2010 was the United Nations International Year of Biodiversity.The accelerating extinction of many species around the world was

recognised at the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992. There was growing understanding that species are interdependent and that the break-down of the complex web of life by man’s activities on the earth ultimately threatens us all.

Nations that signed the Convention on Biodiversity went on to draw up Biodiversity Action Plans (BAPS) for the most threatened species.

The brown hare (Lepus europaeus) was one of the first species chosen by the UK government. The target was to double its population by the year 2010.

The brown hare was chosen not because it is especially rare or in danger of extinction, but because the hare, once a common creature of British farmland, had become scarcer and entirely absent in some areas. There has been an estimated 75% decline in the population since the war.

The term biodiversity refers to the variety of life forms within an ecosystem. The hare is part of a community of mammals, birds, insects, plants and other organisms that share a farmland habitat. Modern agricultural methods have fundamentally altered not only the look of the countryside but also what can live in it, thus dimin-ishing its biodiversity.

The beautiful landscape of the Derbyshire Dales is hare country. I have spent many hours in recent years watching, following and photographing brown hares close to my home in Youlgrave. Like so Small skipper on clover


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many people, I am captivated by their beauty, speed and mystery. I wanted to see more of how they live their often solitary and tough lives out in the open from birth. I have seen them scratch through deep snow to reach frozen grass, cavort madly through spring and summer fields or rest up peacefully on a hillside.

In 2009 I became aware of the aims of Britain’s Biodiversity Action Plan with regard to the hare. I had already made the link between places where hares appeared to thrive and the richness of habitat in terms of bird, insect and plant species.

I had an opportunity to produce the first edition of this book with a grant from the Peak District National Park Authority Sustainable Development Fund. Through the book I hope to engage wider interest in the fragile presence of hares in the pastures of the Derbyshire Dales and to draw attention to the changes in farming practice that have caused the collapse in populations of hares and ground nesting birds including the skylark, lapwing, grey partridge and curlew. The first edition was published in 2010 and sold out in less than 18 months. In this new edition by Vertebrate Publishing there are over 60 new photographs, but the text, with minor amendments, remains the same.

The book is in two parts. The first part focuses on the brown hare and its habitat in the Derbyshire Dales. The second part looks at biodiversity and changing grassland management.

I have interviewed a number of farmers and landowners to gain an insight into the pressures they work under and the choices they have to make. Many farmers are involved in agri-environmental schemes

that can help support wildlife. But it is clear that the fundamental changes in our countryside brought about by intensive farming have been driven by market forces and we are all responsible for the pressures put on the land and its creatures by our demand for cheap food. Global forces as well as severe weather put prices up but the true cost of our food can only be understood by seeing the bigger picture of land use both here in Britain and worldwide.

The current methods of loading both pasture and arable land with chemicals is unsustainable and destroying the natural fertility that this island was blessed with. The hare and the lapwing are telling us that by disappearing. Extinctions follow changing land use across the globe and the oil hungry business that farming has become adds to climate change that threatens us all.

Since the Biodiversity Action Plans were published in 1995, there are encouraging signs that the brown hare population has increased in some areas as a result of wildlife friendly farming practice. But the population has not yet doubled. While concern remains for this wonderful animal that is now extinct in certain areas of Britain, the hare has no legal protection and can be shot on any day but Sunday and Christmas Day.

Christine GregoryJune 2012


part oneThe Hare


3

Previous page Hare in a meadow in July Opposite Hare chasing through the dew in April Above Guarding male on right, approaching a female in March


4

Hares frolicking in a hay meadow in May


5

The frisky one …

the slink-away …

the nibbler …

the fellow in the dew …

the friendless one …

the swift-as-the-wind …

the stalker …

the animal that no one

dare name.

Just a few of the names used in a 13th century incantation, The Names of the Hare, delivered by hunters when going out to find this elusive animal. No other creature in the British countryside has the iconic status of the hare. It has been associated with omens, madness, fertility, sanctity and witchcraft. It is the subject of myths, legends, poetry and art. You can see representations of hares in medieval churches, in stonework, windows and in tapestries. They appear in western art in religious works, hunting scenes or dead as motifs in still-life paintings. The hunted hare clearly had a value and meaning beyond its use as food or quarry and contemporary artists and sculptors still pursue the hare.

Hares appear in the earliest marks made by man on cave walls and they have remained culturally significant in many countries and societies right through until today. So what is it about the hare that has so fed the imagination of people across the world and over time?

The reality of the hare is, in many ways, as extraordinary as the myths that have built around it. Its athleticism is legendary. The brown hare can travel faster than a racehorse. It can jump high and wide. It is even a good swimmer. But, perhaps, its mythical status emanates from its strange and apparently contradictory behaviour.

The famously solitary hare will gather together in groups for purposes as yet unknown. They are highly-strung, timid creatures yet they seem to enjoy loud noise. They are said to enjoy thunderstorms and pet hares have been seen to drum on boxes for prolonged periods. For much of the time they are silent and yet will emit unearthly screams when in pain or distress. They race against cars and gather in large numbers on airfields and chase after jet aeroplanes on take off1. They will transform in a moment from being peaceful herbivores nibbling the grass to formidable figures standing high on two feet, boxing a would-be mate or rival.

Watching a hare going about its business, feeding on grasses and herbs, restlessly turning this way and that, apparently hesitant and indecisive, the label ‘hare brained’ is easy to understand. But when excited by fear or longing, its action is decisive and dynamic. As it flees or chases a mate or rival, then this most timid of creatures becomes a sinuous, bounding force of bone, muscle and sinew, defying logic, expectation and gravity.1 Ewart Evans and Thomson, The Leaping Hare


brown hares in the derbyshire dales - sample pages

Documents

brown hares

brown hare lepus europaeus

author photo

bbc radio sheffield

preferred natural habitat

local author

radio skills

photographer christine