Look for hares on arable farmland, grazing marshes, heaths, and on saltmarsh, shingle and cliff top coastal habitats. Hares are at home in the large open arable fields of Fenland and central Norfolk, in the cattle-grazed marshlands of Broadland, and on the sandy heaths and fields of Breckland. They favour areas with a patchwork of grassland and crops.
They are present throughout the year, but difficult to spot on farmland when the crops have grown tall. The best time to look for hares is dawn or dusk. Hares feed mainly at night and lie up during the day. Late winter and early spring are the best times to scan the fields for hares.
Mad March hare behaviour, when up to ten hares gather together and indulge in madcap chases and furious boxing matches, can be seen in early spring from February onwards with peak activity in March and April.
Picture by Edward Jackson