Going Grey? Peakland’s marvellous mountain hares

Winter Hares

Steve Brown reports on a beautiful and colour-changing ‘ice age survivor’ that has made Derbyshire its home.

THE Peak District is well known for its stunning landscapes and for some treasures – like Blue John – found nowhere else in England. Yet how many know that there is a mammal roaming our gritstone moors which is found nowhere else in Britain other than on the highest peaks in the Scottish Highlands and on the Isle of Man? Lepus timidus scoticus – the Blue, Mountain or Snow Hare – maintains a population on the plateaux of Kinder Scout, Bleaklow, Black Hill and the Howden moors and they continue to delight visitors to the moors who seek out the solitude and wildness found there…