Here at Lower Blakemere Farm, we’re fortunate to have a strong population of hares, a rare and beautiful sight in much of the UK. However, while we do everything we can to create a habitat where hares can thrive, we’ve also faced some significant challenges, particularly from hare coursers and poachers, which are an ongoing threat to both the hares and the farm’s peace.
Hares and Their Ideal Habitat
Hares are perfectly suited to our landscape. They need open fields with minimal disturbance, and our farm’s mix of grasslands, hedgerows, and margins provides just that. They are herbivores, feeding on grasses, wild plants, and crops, and they often make use of the undisturbed patches on the farm to rest during the day in their shallow depressions called forms.
Their speed is legendary. Capable of reaching up to 45 miles per hour, hares rely on this agility to escape predators. Their large, black-tipped ears and wide-set eyes give them excellent awareness, helping them detect threats early. Despite this, in many places hares are becoming increasingly rare in many parts of the UK due to habitat loss, changes in farming practices, and illegal hunting practices such as hare coursing.
The Dark Side: Hare Coursing and Poaching
Unfortunately, at Lower Blakemere Farm, we’ve experienced a darker side of hare conservation – hare coursing and poaching. Hare coursing is an illegal activity where dogs are set loose to chase and catch hares. It takes in the middle of the night and the aim is for the dogs, usually greyhounds or lurchers, to chase the hares purely for sport, with the emphasis being on the dogs’ speed and ability to catch their prey.
What makes this issue even more complex is that hare coursing isn’t just a local or small-scale activity. There are reports of organised gangs involved in this illegal sport, with some even linked to international betting syndicates. In fact, Chinese betting gangs have been known to place wagers on hare coursing events, turning what was once a rural crime into a global issue. This makes it incredibly difficult to tackle, as these groups operate with sophisticated networks and are often well-prepared to evade the police (even if they will come) and the farmers trying to protect their land.
We are continually on the look out for poachers who damage crops and kill hares and deer. They are typically armed with rifles and use high-powered lamps, known as “lamping,” to their prey in the fields during the night, making it easier for their dogs to chase and catch them or for the poacher to shoot them with their guns.
Why Hares are Worth Protecting
We are committed to protecting the hares on our farm. Their boxing displays in spring, when females fend off males during the breeding season, are a joy to witness. These displays are often mistaken for fights, but they’re a crucial part of the hare’s mating ritual. Females, known as jills, use boxing to test the males’ endurance and commitment, ensuring only the strongest pass on their genes.
Hares are a vital part of our farm’s ecosystem. They help control plant growth and serve as prey for natural predators like birds of prey and foxes, maintaining the balance of the food chain. Watching them sprint across the fields or quietly grazing in the early morning is a reminder of the beauty and importance of preserving our natural wildlife.
Conservation and the Way Forward
At Lower Blakemere Farm, we take active steps to prevent poaching and hare coursing. We work closely with local authorities, neighbours, and rural crime prevention networks to monitor the land and report any suspicious activity. We’ve installed better security measures, such as gates and cameras, and are vigilant, especially during the peak poaching months in autumn and winter when hare coursing is most common.
It’s important. – protecting them ensures not only their future but the future of our landscape as a whole.
Hares at Play
The birds are gone to bed, the cows are still,
And sheep lie panting on each old mole-hill;
And underneath the willow’s gray-green bough,
Like toil a-resting, lies the fallow plough.
The timid hares throw daylight fears away
On the lane’s road to dust and dance and play,
Then dabble in the grain by naught deterred
To lick the dew-fall from the barley’s beard;
Then out they sturt again and round the hill
Like happy thoughts dance, squat, and loiter still,
Till milking maidens in the early morn
Jingle their yokes and sturt them in the corn;
Through well-known beaten paths each nimbling hare
Sturts quick as fear, and seeks its hidden lair.
John Clare 1793-1864