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Mountain Hares

Brett Westwood relives programmes from the archives. In this episode from 2005, Sarah Pitt heads into a wintry Peak District with Derek Yaldon in search of mountain hares.

The Mountain Hare, sometimes called the Arctic or Blue Hare, is a native of Scotland but to most people's surprise a colony also live in England.

Brett Westwood relives programmes from The Living World archives. This episode from 2005 Sarah Pitt heads into a wintry Peak District with the late Derek Yaldon in search of mountain hares, one of the great relics of the ice age. Nestled into the hills and as white as white during the winter these animals are very at home straddling the Pennine Way. But how did they get here? To discover this Sarah Pitt is led by zoologist Derek Yalden deep into wintry moors to find these animals, and much to his surprise is given a special device by Sarah to enable him to see the hares at night, something he's never done before. So a double surprise. Hares by day and hares by night. It certainly seems from Sarah and Derek's encounter that the night time is the right time for Mountain Hares.

Producer Andrew Dawes.

Available now

22 minutes

Last on

Sun 7 Jan 2018 06:35

Broadcast

  • Sun 7 Jan 2018 06:35

Natural Histories

Natural Histories

Nature that has had a profound impact on human culture and society across history.