Hares boxing in snow - a look back Yorkshire's last big freeze

As temperatures in the UK plummet, I look back my experience of watching hares courting during Yorkshire's last big freeze.

Hares boxing in snow

I've endured the icy winds of Antarctica to photograph wildlife for my paintings, but nothing in that cold climate compares to my experience watching courting hares on the Yorkshire Wolds in 2010. As the country came to grips with one of the iciest cold snaps in decades, I spent 10 days trudging through thigh-deep snow, sometimes for eight hours a day. In fact, getting close to the hares in these conditions was one of the harshest consignments of my career.

Searching for hares

Hares don't just box and breed in spring, although this is the climax of the season, it can happen at any time of year, and since these animals are easier to spot against the white of a snow field, winter is a good time to witness this amazing behaviour. Hares are solitary animals and so the trick is to look for more than one. If they are together they are likely to be courting and this is when you get to watch them box.

Hares seem to favour specific fields for their courtship, which they return to time and time again, and so I headed to a spot I knew to be a favourite. Sure enough as soon as I arrived I spotted a hare, sitting tight; it's back to the biting wind in a hole purposefully dug into the snow. A quick scan of binoculars picked up more, also sheltering in snow holes.

Later, I painted the following from this photograph. 

These hares were a little far from the road so I grabbed my camera and tripod and headed across a large arable field. The snow was particularly deep and it was heavy going; the drifts on the edge of the road were above my waist. After a little while I spotted four more hares. They shuffled down deeper into the snow as I approached and flattened their ears to their bodies until only their eyes were visible, peeking above the snow line.

Hare chase

As I lifted my camera to my eye, one hare leaped out of its hole, the snow exploding behind it as it dashed away into the distance. The other four took chase. This was a female in season and the males weren't going to let her out of their sight. Getting close enough for a photograph involved approaching downwind and moving slowly, sniper-like.

Following hares in snow

In fact approaching the hares felt like a slow game of grandmother's footsteps. As snow blizzards swept over the field, I would walk towards the group, but when the sun came out I stood stock still, trying to look inconspicuous. But in fact, in my habitual green camouflage, I stuck out like a sore thumb. 

I spent an hour in the bitter cold watching their behaviour. When a large snow storm came over the hares hunkered down with their backs to the wind all in a line, but in between the storms males would go around the group testing the female’s receptivity. They were usually quickly rebuffed with a swift box from the female, who lay partially hidden in snow dugouts.

Before long, the group moved into the next field. This meant I was able to use the dividing hedge as cover. I carefully peered over the hedge to see the group I had been following had joined a larger group out in the middle of the field - there were eight in this new group and I could see still more in the distance – 20, perhaps 30 hares in total. With so many pairs of eyes looking out, I was quickly spotted and they dashed over the horizon. I followed them to the bottom of the field and was on the brink of giving up when I spotted a few doubling back on me.

Hares seemed to be coming from all directions. Within 20 minutes there were 51 hares in front of me - I couldn’t contain my excitement. To see so many at one time is extremely rare and this was the most I’d seen together in Yorkshire. This meant there must have been at least 20 females in season. I might have been alone on a bleak hill-top in the middle of a blizzard witnessing, but I was delighted. I pushed the biting wind to the back of my mind, but when another heavy snow storm came in and the light faded for the day I headed for home.

Camouflage

That night I thought up a plan of how to get back there and photograph the hares again - but this time unseen. A hide I decided wouldn't be practical; I needed to be able to move about quickly. So it came down to getting the right clothing - white clothing. I decided to make myself and my camera a little outfit out of a white tonne dump bag held together with a few cable ties and some string.

This rig up worked well on the camera and tripod, but my attempt at making a jacket and trousers out of the same material rustled noisily when I walked. I did however make myself quite a convincing 'balaclava' out of a (white) pillowcase and I cunningly swiped our (white) oven gloves from the kitchen.  Then I had a brain wave - an all-in-one spray suit (in white, of course) - is what I needed.

So the following morning I headed into Yates of Malton and bought myself an XXL suit which was large enough to go over all my layers of clothes. I drove out to the field, with my snow camouflage outfit in the back of my car. I was just putting my gear on when a tractor approached so, feeling a little self-conscious, I hesitated, until he had gone by.  But the tractor kept coming and going so I decided to venture out in the field and put the gear on once I spotted the hares.

I soon located them again, but getting changed in 18” of snow and a ripping wind was easier said than done. I had to lie on my back with my boots off trying to control the white spray suit which was trying to fly off in all directions. I did look a bit of a sight in my white kit, but I quickly 'blended' into the general whiteout.

Tracking hares in snow

I counted the hares: there were 14 in the group and more on the horizon. I set off after them with the confidence of invisibility, but much to my annoyance they spotted me straightaway - silhouetted in white against a dark woodland background. I let the hares settle and re-planned my approach to blend in with a white backdrop of neighbouring fields. Each time a snowstorm came over I edged closer and now had a coating of snow to add authenticity to my outfit.Behind me my footprints had already been covered by drifting snow. My camouflage had got me within 25 yards of the hares.

They spent much of their time hunkered down with the snow whipping around them in great swirls. I spent day after day photographing them, mainly in overcast or blizzard conditions and sub-zero temperatures.

On the first sunny day of the week I headed off with a great expectation, despite the fact that it was -14C when I set off. But actually the crisp calm conditions proved more difficult as the hares could hear my every footstep crunching through the snow and the sun played havoc with the auto-focusing on my camera, due to a sort of heat haze coming off the snow. It was fascinating to watch courting hares in such harsh conditions and such a marvelous end to my wildlife watching year. The leverets from this courtship were among the first to be born in the new year.

 

And of course the experience led to a whole new collection of painting. Take a look below.