brown hares

BROWN HARES

It was about 3 years ago when I saw my first hare - a lone animal mooching around a stubble field just next to the road. I was overjoyed and watched from the car before the hare eventually wandered off. This was to start somewhat of a love affair with these charasmatic mammals, and for the last couple of years I have put a considerable amount of time into figuring out the best way to catch them on camera. One of my local farms possesses a very healthy population of hares and I have been able to watch them there on many occasions.

This was the first hare I ever caught on camera. Instead of using a standard hide, I made use of a mixture of natural materials and green netting at the corner of a field - this enabled me to lie down and shoot from a low level. The only problem of course, was that this was pot luck - and it relied on the hares wandering in my direction... this wasn't unlikely by any means, but the odds weren't great. Although I saw many hares, I obtained this one solitary shot from ten camouflaged sessions...

Arriving at the farm early one July morning, I was surprised to see a group of hares scatter as I pulled up in the field. I decided to stay in the car, and see if they might return. Sure enough, after around 20 minutes, the hares began to come back. I watched as they passed the nearby barley crop and then made for a rough patch of ground opposite my car. There were 4 individuals, and each one looked incredibly comfortable - it soon became obvious that they saw the car as no threat, and I was able to get excellent views. What I also began to realise was their reason for being there; one of the main problems with hares is that is very difficult to predict where they will be - however, this overgrown patch was proving various plants including thistles, nettles and in particular - cael. The patch was a feeding ground, and with this in mind I returned throughout the summer, alway in a morning, and took various pictures of the hares from the car, sometimes seeing up to 6 at a time.

with the hares being so relaxed, I was able to watch them at close quarters and photograph them in a range of settings in the set aside field

I really liked the surroundings in this image, and composed to show the animal in context with this rough and overgrown patch of the farm

Most of my pictures were taken as the hares wandered amongst the thistles and nettles. They came incredibly close to the car, at times coming too close to focus with my 300mm lens and 1.4x converter. These images were taken on a particularly sunny morning and were some of the first digital images I ever took with my canon 20D.

this particularly attractive hare spent a lot of time around the nettles - a slight noise would usually get him (or is it her??) to look up...

farm machinery lay towards the centre of the field and I was happy to get this image with a slightly different background, emphasising the hare's relationship with agriculture

This delightful young hare (or leveret) kept me entertained for about half an hour, bounding amongst the rough grass before disappearing - only to reappear virutally under my wing mirror. He was often too close to photograph but I managed to bag this close up shot. In my opinion he seemed intrigued by me and my car and looked to be definitely checking me out.

I have tried other methods of photographing hares, including hanging around field borders and stalking (not recommended on an animal with 360 degree vision!). A bit of cabbage can even help entice them...apparently!

I've often seen hares passing between fields, so I set up a tripod one evening and hung around a corner where 3 fields came together. One hare eventually appeared and as I trained my lens on it, it took off. I made an attempt to track the hare as it ran full strength through the stubble...

There are certain set aside fields on the farm that seem to be used for resting. This was just one hare that I attempted to stalk. I kept low, resting the camera on a beanbag and inched forward slowly. I like the background hay bales on this one.

I don't mind admitting that I have somewhat of an obsession with hares... I'll continue to study and photograph them for many years I'm sure - in different settings and seasons. My next aim is to use some better lighting and hopefully record the hares with wonderful backlighting (possibly nibbling on barley..??). I've got some great images in my head and quite frankly the possiblities are endless. I can't wait for next spring...!!

Paul Miguel