Boxing clever

I experienced a magical thing the other night. For the first time I saw hares boxing. This is a practice that involves female hares 'boxing' the males around the head when they become too amorous. It is documented on every wildlife programme, magazine article and book about them but I had never seen it in action. This is mainly because the hare population lives on the hills surrounding my house. I do not climb up there very often so opportunities for watching hare behaviour were always limited. These hares have now moved to lower ground, perhaps indicating a growth in local hare populations, so I was able to see them in action. It does not matter when or how I see new things in terms of wildlife, I always get a chill up my spine. It feels like a privilege to see these things. The first time I watched a badger cleaning out it's sett I was on a high for days.

This picture is a little pen and ink sketch of a brown hare that I was inspired to draw after my experience.