A hare exploring the stubble

The predicted rain came to spoil the party this morning.  So we took it slowly savouring the cooked breakfast provided at the Bed and Breakfast and chatting to another couple who shared the table with us.  Blip talk occurred and we rambled on to them about taking photos.  I hope they weren't too bored.

Helena had suggested a trip to Lulworth Cove and then a possible visit to its castle if the rain was still tipping down.  By the time we reached the Lulworth area, the very heavy rain began to cease and the sky brightened marginally.  As we drove towards the sea we climbed up over the hills behind the Jurassic coast in which Lulworth cove had been created. 

The road traffic had declined a lot and I drove slowly between hedges separating us from arable fields where the stubble was awaiting the next ploughing in the near future of springtime.  I spotted a hare on our left in the distance running down the hill in the field and disappearing into the hedgerow.  I knew that we wouldn't be able to see it again if we stopped, but mentioned it to Helena, who said she had never seen a hare.  I thought of stopping to get my camera out from the back of the car just in case, but decided against it as we were only a couple of miles from Lulworth.  Then I saw another hare on my right on the other side of the road also in a field of stubble.

This time I had to get my camera and got out of the car fearing it would run away again.  But by the time I had changed the lens and prepared the camera it was not only still in view but had come nearer to where I had stopped the car on the road between the hedges.  I wound the window down and poked the lens out and started to take a number of pictures of it running, sitting, then retreating with its back to us before its final disappearance over the ridge of the hill  running fast outlined against the grey sky.

I am blipping this picture of one of the first ones I took as it shows it marginally closer to us and so can be seen more clearly in the necessarily heavily cropped image.  I will probably come back and put a few of the others on a Flickr gallery as it was a rare chance for me to get any pictures of a hare at all.

We did get to the cove and walked in the last moments of the drizzle before eating a good pub lunch close to the sea in the village.  Then we headed off to meet my old friend Patrick H., who lives in a tiny hamlet near Dorchester.  He had offered to take us to see the wishing well at Cerne Abbas, next to the ruins of the monastery.  That was a lovely spot as well so my Flickr gallery will have pictures of the Cerne Abbas Giant and the well, when I get round to it, hopefully tomorrow.