Brown Hare - Lepus europaeus

The Brown Hare lives in grassy and arable fields on farmland, and sometimes are found on the edges of woodland.

Habitat

In Wiltshire it lives on open downland and in small fields.

Description

The Brown Hare is often confused with the rabbit, but there are some obvious differences that help to tell the two species apart. The Brown Hare is overall much larger than the rabbit, they have much longer hind (back) legs and longer ears that have black tips, their tails also have black tips. They also run, rather than the hopping motion on rabbits, and can outrun predators reaching speeds of over 40mph, they will also crouch when threatened flattening their ears against their body.

Biology

Brown Hares are hard to spot as they are most active at night, so the best time to see a Brown Hare is in the early morning or at dusk when it is feeding. They are usually solitary animals, but two animals can be seen during spring when spectacular chases and 'boxing matches' take place where the females are fighting off the advances of the males.

During the day the Brown Hare spends most of its time in small scrapes in the grass called forms, which is a shallow depression in the ground that just fits its body when crouching low. Once the young (called leverets), are born, they are left above ground in the forms alone to avoid the attention of predators until the female returns at dusk to feed them. The leverets are born and raised above ground.

Threats

In Wiltshire the Brown Hare population has gone under a massive decline, mainly due to changes in farming practices. The main decline was between the 1960's to the 1980's, and they are now classed as a vulnerable species.

Conservation

As the Brown Hare is classed as game it has no legal protection and there is no closed season, but it is a priority species in the UK BAP (Biodiversity Action Plan) and the Wiltshire BAP.