Field signs
Brown hares shelter and rest in a ‘form’, a scraped shallow depression in the ground. Brown hare droppings are larger than those of the rabbit and tend to be lighter in colour. They are scattered randomly in feeding areas well away from the margins of fields.
Habits
Brown hares live predominantly on farmland but can be found in other habitats. They prefer open spaces where they can safely establish their forms in which to crouch and keep watch in all directions.
Their diet is varied, including autumn-sown wheat and young rape crops during winter. In the spring the diet comprises wild herbs supplementing cultivated crops such as pea and bean foliage. In summer there is likely to be a greater reliance on herbs in pasture and set-aside land. As late summer arrives, hares move on to newly harvested fields to feed on any corn that has not been collected. In autumn, they will live on new growth in the stubble fields. Along estuaries and coasts hares may be seen at low tide feeding on seaweed. They live on the wide-open spaces of the shingle peninsula at Dungeness, where lichens and mosses form an important part of their diet, and may occasionally be seen hopping boldly between the fishing boats drawn up on the beach.
Reproduction and life cycle
When hares are seen boxing, it is usually a female fending off the unwanted attentions of a male. There are also more violent encounters when the hares kick powerfully with their hind legs. These are likely to be males fighting for dominance.
The favoured time of year for breeding is spring, although there are records of baby hares (leverets) being born in all months of the year. The hare is one of the few species where the female can be pregnant with two litters at the same time. Females normally produce three litters each year with up to four leverets in each.
As the brown hare does not use a burrow, the leverets are born above ground. Shortly after birth the leverets disperse into the immediate area. They come together shortly after sunset when the female returns to suckle them, which occurs just once in each 24 hour period. At this time they rely on camouflage to avoid predation. Within two weeks of birth they start to graze.
Distribution, status and conservation
Due to the persecution of this species within the county, the distribution map shows a centred dot within a hectad where brown hares have been recorded.
In the past, brown hares might have been seen in almost any part of rural Kent. However, with human population growth, industrial and housing development and the associated expansion of roads and railways, they have tended to withdraw into specific areas, with their numbers now greatly reduced. As the brown hare lives on agricultural land, the species is highly dependent for its well-being on supportive farming methods. This applies to both crop choices and the use of machinery and herbicides. Where farmers provide set-aside areas for wildlife, brown hares are more likely to be able to resist the population decline that is associated with industrial farming practices. Extensive crop monocultures adversely affect abundance. However, they prosper when a range of crops is grown.
Brown hares can still be found in the north of the county where there are pasture and marshland areas. The large areas of arable land south of Sittingbourne provide good habitat. Exceptionally, this is an area where hares frequent the woodland blocks that in many cases are surrounded by tracts of arable land.
On the arable land in east Kent hares are found at lower densities and may be encountered in the flat parts of the river valleys, from the Stour in the east to the upper parts of the Medway and its tributaries. There are now few records from the North Downs in the west of Kent or from the High Weald, both having smaller and steeper fields which are unsuited to them.
The brown hare is monitored as an indicator species under England’s Environment Act targets. Brown hares continue to be at risk from illegal hunting.
