Brown Hare

Having had my day hi-jacked I suddenly realised that I hadn't blipped, dinner was to cook and No. 1 daughter wanted me to accompany her to the fun fair for her Uni. design project. Putting everything on hold and thinking that it was a possibility that I might with a lot of luck see the barn owl tonight I shot to my 'owl spot', parked the car, hopped over the gate and down the side of the hedge where he hunts at dusk.

I waited silently for over an hour and it was a no show! The light went and it was eerily quiet in the gathering dusk. I could see quite well really in the gloom and saw what I though initially was a rabbit jumping towards me. Strangely it seemed unaware of my presence, coming closer, doing a bit of eating, jumping then eating again. Realising this was no rabbit but a hare, I hardly dared breathe and was literally frozen motionless like a statue. Tentatively easing up the camera hoping that it could focus in the gloom I took a couple of silent shots. Seemingly unperturbed it continued on it's way.

It was a rather surreal experience in the dark, a bit 'Alice in Wonderland' for me as I have never got this close to a hare or for that matter seen one round here. A rare and unexpected delight as they used to be widespread but have declined due to persecution and changes in land use. The high ISO has meant this image is not how it appeared in the gloom with it's ears silhouetted dark against the whiteness of the grasses. The owl meanwhile had probably had done a few fly-bys while I was so absorbed with this!