Brown Hare ecology

Brown Hare population

Brown Hare© James Lindsey/Wiki Commons
Brown Hare

Brown Hare advice for farmers

(Our thanks to the Brown Hare Action Project for their permission to reproduce the following information.)

Open quotesThe cumulative effect of small changes in land management by individual farmers and land owners across the country can have a massive impact on Brown Hare numbersClose quotesThe cumulative effect of small changes in land management by individual farmers and land owners across the country can have a massive impact on Brown Hare numbers. Many of these management techniques are rewarded financially through the Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) and the Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) schemes launched by RDS in 2005. Farmers with low densities of hare, who would like to provide additional or improve existing brown hare habitat on their land through environmental stewardship, could consider the following management options.

Arable farmland

  • Leave buffer strips, strips of set-aside and allow awkward to reach field corners to establish naturally, this provides both grazing and cover for brown hares.
  • Increase the variety of crops and planting regimes. This will result in year-round cover and nutrition for the Brown Hare on arable farmland.
  • Leave over wintered stubbles to provide an important winter food source and cover for brown hare.
  • Use beetle banks can be used to break up large fields and provide cover for hares.
  • Skylark plots also break up large tracts of land by creating small blocks of shorter vegetation, providing additional grazing opportunities, with cover within easy reach, for the Brown Hare.

Pastoral farmland

  • Use low or no fertiliser on grassland. This will increase the diversity and abundance of plant species, supplying both the cover and variety in the diet the Brown Hare needs.
  • Provide a variety in the grassland sward structure by creating a number of different vegetation heights and enhancing the level of cover for brown hares.
  • Reducing the number of times a year the silage is cut and preferably cutting after the end of August (when the leverets are more independent) will result in lower brown hare mortality.
  • Stocking densities should ideally be kept low.

For more specific information contact the Game Conservancy Trust (www.gct.org.uk) to obtain a copy of their re-launched Brown Hare leaflet, which contains detailed land management advice.