Mad Hare

I will have two great memories of this snow-fall.  The first is of a young hare who had obviously never seen snow before.  We first noticed him in early autumn. He spent sunny days sitting in his form (a shallow depression) in the middle of the field safe from predators. Unlike rabbits, hares tend to be solitary creature who live above ground. He is a shy one and sticks to the far side of the field but on Saturday he came right up to the fence!  He was jumping about; frantically searching for any tuft of grass not covered by the strange white stuff; running and leaping and all but dancing in the snow.  Obviously there wasn't a lot for him to eat so I threw out some green veg and apples.  Something ate it over night but the footprints didn't look like hare prints.

My second memory of the snow fall is being outside at four o'clock in the morning.  Have you ever seen the Simon the Cat cartoon 'Cat Man Do'?  If not click here.  This was my cat on that Saturday morning.  There was no way she was going to be ignored ... I was forced out of bed!  In a way she did me a favour because I looked outside and realised my greenhouse heater had gone out!!  Of all the nights to run out of parafin!  Elegantly attired in my dressing gown and wellies I braved the snow to rescue the plants and that's when I heard the barn owl.  Ghostly white and silent it was hunting along the deserted road.  A beautiful sight ..... unless you're a mouse!