Photographing Hares

treeman

treeman

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I'm not by any means normally interested in wildlife pics, but for some reason I have the urge to go and photograph some Hares :)

I recall many years ago seeing some just outside of Winchester, so thought I'd head back that way.

Can any one help with suggesting best time of day etc, and any strategy for positioning etc please?

Will a 400mm on F/F be long enough?

Thanks :)
 
Hares are great creatures, earlyish morning was a good time when I found some in Yorkshire - I used an 80-400 at the time, which was my longest lens and it wasn't ideal as they are canny creatures but if you can keep concealed obviously it helps!
 
The ones I had were both in the middle and around the edges of the fields but they also came into the paddocks around the farmhouse where we were staying.
There was a particular liking for a dust patch right in the middle of a kids play area at the back of the house - unfortunately although that was close it was difficult to photograph them there as it was hard to remain unseen!
A 1.4 would be a very useful addition.
A 400mm prime though is going to be a lot better than the 80-400.
 
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Hi, i have been visiting a local brown hare hot spot for the last month ,i have found that they stay in and around hedges early morning ,last week i had one jump out at me at around 6.00am it then leapt on to the hedge of the field and struck a still pose for a few secs ,i was driving and the light was not good,they will congregate in the middle of a field but as soon as you point a lens thier off .....as the weeks go on i think you are more likely to get shots late afternoon early evening and a good hide is actually your car ,just park up and sit and wait in a quite country lane (in a safe area ) i am going back early tommorow and i am going to sit in a edge in the hope i can get a full frame shot....as you probably already know if you are patient and respect the subject it will in most cases reward you with the chance of a photo and come to you ,unlike last week ,apart from the one i spotted early morning this was a close as i got last week
Brown hare 5 by den9112, on Flickr
 
I spend a lot of time photographing hares in Bowland. Generally I find the best tactic is to cruise along the road in the car quietly with my window partly up and a beanbag resting over it. You can roll up to hares in a car and they will take very little notice of you. Although hares have almost 360 deg vision they do not see things very well directly in front of them and if you stay still they will sometimes come almost right up to you.
I took this photo a few days ago from the car
hare.jpg


This hare was hunkered down in a form about 10 yards from the road and was happy for about 10 minutes while I sat in the truck and watched and took photographs. You can bet your life i would not have got anything like as near as this if I had been on foot. Unless of course they are otherwise engaged......

hare2.jpg
 
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Hi Greywolf ,my spot for brown hares is not far from Bowland aprox 6 mile from Bleasdale were they seem to have moved away from as thier does not seem to be as many this year as previous years ,it was febuary though when i went back.....Got lucky this year as my perseverence with the local farmer paid off......
brown hare by den9112, on Flickr
 
In my experience the hares up here are easier to see from March April onwards. I do think the two hard winters we had have affected numbers. I spend a bit of time around Bleasdale, especially when they put on the hare days but it is very wide open there and very difficult to get near enough for good photographs. My favoured area is further north as I know the area well and I do the hare survey in two adjacent grid squares. I have only seen hares boxing a couple of times up here this year but I haven't been out as much as I would have liked.
 
Greywolf ,we must have met at some point as i have spent a good few years around a certain area and not many people know about it,Bleasdale is like you said large with a couple of hides were you may see them venture in to the field that splits the two hides......I so two boxing a couple of weeks back on a early misty morning ,alas out of range but i like to get them in late summer evening sun when the coats have thinned ...good luck in your pursuit and possibly one of the best things the romans did for us as i love watching them .....
 
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