Monday 21 March 2011

Hares and Rabbits

Brown Hare

Spring is most definitely here. The evenings are getting lighter and the spring flowers are appearing all over the place. The birds are building their nests but some of the animals are already rearing their young. There are baby rabbits all over the garden. As cute as they may be, they really are pests in the garden - digging holes and eating all the plants.

I thought it would be interesting to compare the hares (which I find really beautiful) and the rabbits which to me are pests.

The photo above is a hare - a gorgeous fluffy creature - which was nibbling grass just outside my conservatory yesterday. It is huge compared to the rabbits and it does not dig holes. They are much lighter coloured with very long black-tipped ears. The legs, although you cannot see them in this photo, are also much longer and they can run very fast.

The photo below is a group of baby rabbits. There are several families living in my shrubberies. The babies venture out further and further from the shrubs but dash back in when disturbed.

Baby Rabbits

Another interesting find in the garden this week are a pair of red-legged partridges. They have so far evaded my efforts to photograph them!

1 comment:

Sandra said...

I loved reading about the differences between hares and rabbits. All these endearing creatures bringing life (and sometimes holes!) to our gardens!
This morning I was woken at 4.30 am by the beautiful song of a blackbird in front of my bedroom window. This is such a glorious time of the year!