From god to pot and back again

Flanders Moss NNR

The nature reserve experience at Flanders Moss starts before you get to the car park as often in the fields either side of the access track there are interesting things to be seen.

A few days back I spotted a couple of brown hares. They become very visible at this time of year as they gather together with mating on their minds and the crops are not long enough to hide them.

They really are magnificent animals – much bigger than rabbits, with elegant long ears and legs and a beautiful russety fur coat that has to withstand all weathers. Hares don’t live in burrows like rabbits but above ground all of the time so they need better protection to keep them warm. In the little bit of film and pictures, the hares are not doing much – just dozing in the sun and enjoying the warmth after a long winter. And a bit of gentle interaction with each other. There is something calming and relaxing just watching them, a bit like having a dog asleep in front of the fire.

Hares have been valued in different ways through history. It seems they were first introduced to the mainland Britain in the Iron Age when it is thought they were considered to be Gods or deities. Intact skeletons carefully arranged in burials of individuals were found by archaeologists. But during Roman times bones were found that showed that the animals had been eaten and were probably keep in captivity for food. In more recent times they have been popular as a sporting animal – either shot or chased by dogs. Perhaps now, in a time of a biodiversity emergency and declining hare populations, it is time for people to just valued them for being beautiful to watch? Maybe to be saved they need to become a modern form of a deity again?