jumping jacks

two pairs of hares were running about in the sunshine today, and here are some rather fuzzy images of them. you can’t get very close, especially with a lurcher on the lead who squeals if she spots one, and an elderly dog who still thinks that a chase is a good idea.

I was watching this one, waiting for it to come closer, when Sal launched a pre-emptive strike …. he stopped when I shouted, but too late, the hare was already legging it in the opposite direction. the sunshine seems to encourage them, there was no sign of a hare at the same time yesterday, when it was grey and cold.

lots more deer hoof prints. I think they are roe deer, maybe the buck’s. I just bought The Roe Deer, Conservation of a Native Species, by Richard Prior. very interesting that they more or less died out from the UK in post medieval times, and were reintroduced from European stock during the 1800’s. our Norfolk ones come from Swanton Downham, near Thetford, introduced in 1884 by Sir William Dalziel Mackenzie from Wurttemburg in Germany. the scrub and wood and the marshy meadow habitat here is ideal for roe, they like the edge of the forest, the woodshore.