All Ears
By Miles ·
A brown hare sits alert amongst the stubble of a harvested field, its long ears raised in the warm July light.
With ears like those, very little goes unnoticed!
Sitting among the stubble of a recently harvested field, this brown hare seems perfectly at ease, yet its alertness is unmistakable. One enormous ear points skywards, while its bright amber eye keeps watch over the surrounding countryside.
Brown hares have an extraordinary ability to blend into their surroundings. Their mottled brown coats are remarkably effective camouflage amongst dry grasses, bare earth and the golden remains of a summer crop. It can be surprisingly easy to overlook one sitting quietly in the open.
Here, the warm afternoon light catches the hare's fur, picking out the fine details of its whiskers, long ears and richly textured coat. Behind it, the harvested field gradually dissolves into a soft wash of muted gold and brown.
There's something particularly satisfying about these quieter wildlife encounters. No dramatic movement, no frantic dash across a field, just an opportunity to observe an animal going about its business.
Of course, with those ears, I suspect the hare knew I was there long before I spotted it.