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The Downs at Cheesefoot Head |
Once upon a time there was a family of small furry animals.
Two of the sisters were talking about what they would do when they grew up.
I am going to have young ones quickly, said one, with closed eyes and no fur down in a burrow so they are safe.
I am going to keep my young inside until they have fur and eyes ready to open and have them out in the open so they can run as soon as they are born, said the other.
The first sister grew up to be married to Mr Rabbit and the second to Mr Hare.
This may have impressed Charles Darwin but to members of the Natural History Society trying to tell the difference between rabbits and hares at a distance of half a mile it is of no use whatever.
Nevertheless a good turnout of members set out on one of the finest days of the year to walk round Cheesefoot head in search of Hares displaying their mad march hare rituals.
The sky was light blue crossed with vapour trails, there was a song thrush singing in the trees, a yellow brimstone butterfly flitting about the bushes, the ground was becoming green with young shoots of dogs mercury and cleavers, flowers of bright blue common speedwell and golden yellow celandine covered the floor.
This was a perfect day to forget your troubles and get away from it all; the credit crunch meant only a free biscuit.
It was not long before we saw our first hares.
The rolling downs in this area mean that when you stand at the top you can look over the valleys and see for miles and in a recently sown field we saw a couple of hares.
Hares have black tips to their ears which distinguishes them from rabbits.
They also have longer hind legs and ears and are generally bigger which after you have become familiar with hare spotting enables you to tell them at a glance.
We subsequently came across several other groups of hares or droves as we walked round our route but most of them were quite a distance away and none of them were actually boxing, probably because it was not the right time of day.
It is usually the female hare who boxes the males to keep them off until the most dominant comes along.
Part of our route took us along a narrow country road with low hedges along each side, mature oak trees occasionally breaking the line of hedge, and wide views over the downs.
When you are walking along you rarely see anything of interest but when you stop and look for a few minutes it is surprising what comes in to view.
One such stop revealed red legged partridges running like roadrunner and what looked like hares in the distance but turned out to be a group of roe deer making their way across a field of kale.
Siskins, buetits and chaffinch fly from tree to tree, the chaffinch hopping in to the sky to catch insects before returning to the tree.
Skylarks sing overhead but are almost impossible to spot.
We walked further than we would normally go on our walks but the warm sunny weather made the trip very worthwhile, an ideal way to spend a Sunday.
The next outdoor meeting is to Moorcroft Farm.
Meet at the Oak Road car park Dibden Purlieu at 10am on 19th April 2009.
Non members welcome at no charge.
The next indoor meeting is a talk on the magic of Migration by Steve Oakes.
Meet at St Andrews Centre, Beaulieu Road, Dibden Purlieu at 7.30pm on 27th April 2009.
Non members welcome at a charge of £2.
Contact the secretary on 023 8089 3803 for membership details. |
