Winter Hares at Halls farm Norton

Brown hares that were easy to see in October seem to vanish during November and the short days of December. They are of course still at Halls and Little haugh farms but as the weather gets colder and the days shorter Hares shelter more in field edges, woodland and hedges. Brown hares do come out in the fields to feed at the same time but at 6pm in December it is dark and they are only glimpsed in the sweep of car headlights. Running into February the light increases noticeably every day and the winter crops that have been dormant start to grow again, many of the “mole hills” in these fields turn into hares when seen through binoculars. The heavy clay Suffolk soil is saturated by weeks of rain, footprints become puddles in minutes, to avoid the wet and mud hares prefer feeing and resting in grassland on the farms. The images below were taken in the rough tussocky meadows behind the farm yard where hares can keep their feet out of the mud. Hares are starting to be seen in pairs in this meadow is a sure sign that March and spring is not far away.