Hare today ...

I set out early this morning heading into the forest and I am soon rewarded with this rare treat, a hare and only the second one I have ever seen in all the years I have lived up here. It was quite a distance away and initially I thought it might have been a fawn. As I slowly approached it remained frozen and I began to think it was a joke and that someone had carved it out of wood or that it was just a boring old tree stump and I was getting carried away.

Eventually I got close enough to see that it clearly was a hare and then it made its escape. I also came across a some noisy young birds nesting in a hole in a rotten tree stump. I could hear them chirping loudly and I could see the hole, which was just above eye level. However creepers and neighbouring trees made it impossible to get close enough to see inside or to take a photo. I sensed they must have been woodpeckers of some description but they might well have been nuthatches or tree creepers.