Still Fighting

The cock pheasants have been fighting on and off all day. I would have thought it was a bit late. I think most of the females are already sitting on their nests, but there are a couple of females still wandering around. These guys really don't like each other. They have started to leave feathers on the lawn after their bouts of fighting. They are very aggressive to each other.

At the other end of the spectrum, this hare was lying in the grass all afternoon, very relaxed. I have been finding out more about hares and their lifestyle from Marc Baldwin, whose web site (www.wildlifeonline.me.uk) is a mine of useful information about British wildlife.

Once again I crept up on this hare and only when I got close, did it sit up. You can see from the photo it is assessing how much of a threat I was! They rely on their camouflage and speed to avoid danger.

I wanted to post this photo because it shows really well the length of its front legs. These help make it the fastest land animal in the UK reaching speeds up to 45 mph.

Hares and Rabbits

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.



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!

Badger and Hare

I found a dead badger (meles meles) in the garden today - not the one in the photograph. It must have been dead for a while because the scavengers had been at it and there was only fur and a few bones left. I would be interested to know what killed it.

Badgers have few predators in this country and it is badger cubs that are most at risk from predators. Adult badgers can fight back fairly aggressively if attacked and they have a nasty bite. They also use their black and white striped face to warn off attackers.

Badgers are getting a fairly bad press at the moment in the UK, accused of spreading Bovine TB. I hope that no local farmers are taking it into their own hands and poisoning them. They are such beautiful creatures.

I also surprised a brown hare (Lepus capensis). It was just a few metres away so I got a good look at it before it ran off. I have seen hares in the garden before but only from a distance. I was surprised by its light colouring and, of course, it had the black tips on its ears. I wish I could get a photo.