He’ll be as mad as a March hare if you call him bunny

HAVE you ever surprised a hare while out walking in the country?

Because hares keep safe from predators by hiding and freezing, you might have been close to stepping on one before Britain’s fastest wild animal made a sudden, startling break for it with a burst of brown energy, a bulging of spooked, amber eyes and a white flash of outsize clown’s shoe heels, leaving what author Marianne Taylor identifies as ‘a frisson of magic’ in its wake.

A dedicated birdwatcher from early childhood, Taylor only became interested in hares in her late teens when she talked a reluctant boyfriend into a twitching trip. Birds bored him. But the unexpected glimpse of a hare gave him such a thrill that she switched her focus to a creature she had previously dismissed as an oversized rabbit.

‘Its ears were lovely and ridiculous, tall, broad radar dishes, nothing like a rabbit’s,’ she says. ‘Its head was shaped like a toy bus and its high-set staring eye, even over distance, was wide and pale and looked utterly haunted, on the edge of reason ...’

Since then, she’s been studying these otherworldly creatures, and has produced a delightful book that both dissects and deepens their appeal to humans. Her delicate drawings skip alongside a thoughtful, beginner’s guide to their history, biology and mythology.

Like rabbits, brown hares are not native to Britain. Both species were probably brought here by the Romans about 2,000 years ago, as a food source. While the Romans domesticated their bunnies, the wilder hare became associated with our fight against occupation when Iceni Queen Boudicca got into the habit of concealing one under her dress to release before battle. She would take the direction of its flight as guidance on military strategy.

Although they cannot change sex at will, as many once believed, female hares can pull off the remarkable trick of getting pregnant while already pregnant.

And what about those ‘mad’ boxing March hares? I assumed they were always males, boxing over females. But they’re as likely to be females, batting off unwanted male advances. Being bigger, the females will almost always win these bouts.

Despite declining numbers in the UK, it is still legal for landowners to shoot or snare hares in England and Wales throughout the year.

The ‘sport’ of coursing hares with dogs has been illegal here since 2005 and can carry a custodial sentence, but it is still permitted in Ireland, where the distinct species of Irish Hare has been in decline for the past 20 years.

Taylor concludes her book with a passionate plea for the reinvigorated protection of these remarkable creatures. After all, our countryside would certainly lose much of its magic if what’s hare today is gone tomorrow.

HELEN BROWN