Saw a fantastic winter pelaged mountain hare near the Waystone this morning. This is the northernmost Pennine one I've seen, being several miles north of the Saddleworth Moor population. I have a booklet published by the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust called, 'The Mountain Hare in the Peak District', which states that during a survey of this species in 2000, one was recorded by National Trust wardens on Close Moss (south of Buckstones Moss and south of the A640).
Merry Christmas, Chris
That's brilliant, Chris. I've been up there looking for them, but never been lucky.
ReplyDeleteIn frustration, a couple of took a drive a bit further south, above Dovestones Res. Again, no luck, but tragically, we found one freshly killed in the road!
A regular watcher of the moors I know says he has seen them even north of the M62 occasionally.
I do have some old records (from the 1970's I think) of individuals seen on Blackstone Edge and Rishworth Moor. One was claimed on Blackstone Edge couple of years back, but when I saw the photo it was clearly a brown hare. If you do try again on Saddleworth Moor, let me know and I can give you a couple of decent areas to target.
ReplyDeleteThanks Chris, I will.
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