Catherine Drea: Spring at last

So… away from all the madness in the world, spring has sprung, at last! Sure as eggs are eggs, Mother Nature is continuing to do her own thing and there is nothing any world leader can do about it.

Today, I just had to pause and count the positive signs. From my window I’m watching birds getting friskier, green shoots appearing over ground, and the return of the light. But of all the signs that I have been craving, the best of all has been the return of the hares to the garden.

If you are lucky enough to have met with hares up close, you will know that they are one of our largest mammals. The Irish Hare (Lepus timidus hibernicus) is unique to this island. Apparently they have been here for over 30,000 years. 

They look like a large rabbit on very long legs and with huge ears, but their behaviour is very different.

While rabbits live in burrows under the ground, hares sleep and breed in the long grass. Sometimes you might see one dashing at speed across the fields. They can run so fast that unfortunately hunting them and using them for hare coursing is still enjoyed by a few. It’s an outrageous state of affairs that hares can be hunted and captured for such cruel activities, especially as the hare is also a protected species in Ireland.

I have a special interest in hares because every year I hope and pray that they have survived the winter and will breed again on the grassy wilderness beside and around our house. I had never seen one in the wild until about 20 years ago when we moved to an area where they were an integral part of the landscape. Over the years I have been lucky enough to observe them at close quarters as they leave their young here for the first few weeks after they are born.

I often talk about the first time I saw a female with a couple of leverets outside my window one early morning. Such a magical and mythical creature, I was besotted from then on! In ancient Irish lore they were believed to be a goddess from the underworld and when followed, the mythical hare would turn into a beautiful girl.

What is almost incredible is that the female hare leaves her leverets in the grass after they are born and heads off into the day to feed and ramble. They return at intervals to care for them and when the young ones are about six weeks old they start to leap around the place and nibble at the spring shoots. No wonder it is thought that 75% of their young don’t survive this unusual upbringing.

Even if I have to watch these hares demolish my bulbs and graze on the tips of the emerging garden plants, I don’t mind! I can sit for ages watching their antics and take photographs of them till the cows come home. They are wonderful to watch. 

The males are larger and have enormous twitching noses and muscled legs. They often sit for long periods staring into space or performing stretches, which look very like yoga poses.

Their faces are full of expression and, yes, in the spring the Mad March Hare antics happen as they compete and play. The other day, just as I was giving up hope that they might return, two or three of them, it was hard to tell, had a mad half hour chasing each other around the place. Otherwise they are relatively solitary animals and it is more common to see one of them at a time.

Sadly, the Irish Hare has been in serious decline in the last few decades. Modern farming, hunting, coursing and dogs have had free rein and unlike Northern Ireland where coursing is banned, it is still widespread here.

The garden is also inundated with pheasants. These beautiful animals are simply bred for shooting and as far as I can observe are as tame as farmyard chickens. They hang around waiting for me to fill the bird feeders and, spectacular as they are, I presume they will end up on someone's dinner menu as they mature.

So yet again it is time to think about preserving our native wildlife and our beautiful countryside in harmony with farmers and other residents. It has been another very challenging year for rural communities, especially for farmers. I am turning to some of my friends who are managing to create an alternative lifestyle, while at the same time preserving their farming heritage. How can we support farmers to earn a good living and at the same time save our environment?

I know that many farmers feel abandoned and that there are fewer young farmers willing to take on the burden of inheritance. Meanwhile, the advice that was given by Teagasc and others to intensify and to over-manage the land has turned out to be bad advice.

There is no doubt in my mind that farmers are the ones who will save nature by working in a regenerative way. But what we need now is adequate support to help them to do just that.

Meanwhile, spring can only raise our spirits and we can all look forward to the upcoming “Grand Stretch” in the evenings.