CSV Action and Campaigns

Hare today, gone tomorrow?

_{Looking for hares at Bleasdale with the Lancashire Wildlife Trust}

The number of brown hares has declined in recent years in different parts of the UK and the Lancashire Wildlife Trust wants to find out how many of them are left in the county and whether they are in good shape.

As part of a county wide survey the Trust recently organized a one day course in Bleasdale to teach members of the public how to identify brown hares and how to record their sightings.

Even if you didn’t come on the course, you can still help the Trust build up a better picture of the state our hares are in.

Phone us at CSV Action 0845 305 9000 and we can send you a Wildlife Trust Brown Hare postcard. All the Trust needs to know is how many and where you saw the hares and in what type of countryside you saw them.

Some hare facts...

• Hares aren’t rabbits – they’re twice as big and don’t look so chubby and rounded. They are much taller and leaner and have much longer legs.
• They’ve got big ears with black tips.
• They don’t live in burrows but dig themselves shallow scrapes called "forms."
• They prefer to come out at night and people used to think they were witches in disguise.  The best time to spot them is near dawn or dusk.
• The males are called jacks; the females are called does and the babies are called leverets. They are born fully furred with their eyes open and ready to run...
• Grown hares are pretty quick – they can run at up to 45 mph and they are able to swim.
• You’ll have a great time if you go looking for them and sometimes you might almost stumble on one before it will break cover!