The healthy numbers of Irish hares may be at risk from brown hares , a new survey warns. Anthony Kingreports
The wild Irish hare is alive and well in Ireland and in plentiful supply according to the first national hare survey here. Yet an imported competitor, the brown hare, poses a possible threat to the native and could potentially outcompete the local.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service organised the survey, soon to be published, which involved fieldwork undertaken around the State and which will fill a gap in our knowledge about the hare population here.
There had been concerns that Irish hare numbers had declined in recent decades. Work at Queen's University, Belfast, had shown falls in Northern Ireland, but there was just anecdotal evidence in the South.
"We didn't even have a ballpark figure in terms of how many hares there might be in the country," says Ferdia Marnell of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).
From January to March in 2006 and 2007, surveyors used spotlights to find hares at night, since hares are most active after sunset. "During the day, you can walk across a field and straight passed a hare and not see it," says Dr Neil Reid, project co-ordinator. The survey found hares throughout the country, in many types of habitats.
So how can you tell a rabbit from a hare at night? Hares, says Dr Reid, are larger and tend to have a more relaxed reaction to being spotlighted. "They lope away slowly, whereas rabbits scamper," he explains.
Hares' eyes tend to be pinkish, whereas rabbits' tend to be gold or white. Hares also tend to stay in the middle of fields, relying on their phenomenal sprinting abilities to evade predators.
The Irish hare, Lepus timidus hibernicus, is the same species as the mountain hare of the Alps and Scandinavia, but the Irish subspecies behaves and looks quite different. Uniquely, the Irish hare has adapted to all kinds of habitat, from beaches to bogs to mountain tops. Reid describes it as our most native and endemic species. "If we are going to keep anything, we should keep the Irish hare," he says.
Research carried out at Queen's University Belfast last year found the Irish hare to be more genetically distinct than previously thought. Its unique appearance, ecology and behaviour are the result of its isolation on the island for at least the last 30,000 years, making it one of the few mammals to have survived the last Ice Age in Ireland. Some experts believe the Irish hare should now be recognised as a separate species.
Hares have two demands, according to Dr Reid: good quality grass for food and rushy fields or scrubby areas to hide in during the day. "These two things need to be relatively close together, so a patchwork quilt habitat is ideal," he says.
Dr Reid believes the Rural Environmental Protection Scheme (Reps) has the potential to benefit hares and biodiversity in general, since it may encourage rough areas scattered across the country. The scheme pays farmers to leave uncultivated strips, field corners and individual fields.
Agricultural intensification is probably the major threat facing hares. "In Ireland, as across Europe, we are creating very homogenous grassland deserts," says Dr Reid. The changes have caused the decline of not just hares, but corncrakes and other farmland species. Mechanised harvesting can also be harmful, especially for young leverets, which lie low and remain motionless.
There is also concern regarding the brown hare, a species introduced to Irish estates in the 18th century. Reid and his colleagues at Queen's have found substantial numbers of these non-native hares in mid-Ulster. "They seem to have usurped a portion of the Irish hare population. In 20 to 30 years we might find ourselves in a grey squirrel/red squirrel situation, only it will be the brown hare and Irish hare," he says.
Climate change and more cereal crops might also favour the brown hare. For now, the invaders do not pose a threat to Irish hares in the Republic of Ireland: none was recorded in the survey.
One of the best places to see Irish hares is North Slob in Co Wexford. Rebecca Jeffrey of the NPWS has monitored the population at this hare reserve since the mid-1990s.
The survey involved statistical wizardry that will be of interest to wildlife experts surveying deer and other species, says Marnell. "We will be presenting data at an international conference on game biology in Sweden this August."
The survey itself was very extensive, involving five sampling points in every 10km square in Ireland, giving several thousand sampling points. It was co-ordinated by Quercus, a research centre for biodiversity and conservation affiliated to Queen's and the Environment and Heritage Service, Northern Ireland. Most of the surveying was done by NPWS field staff.
The report will be published in September and will be available at www.npws.ie. An All-Island Species Action Plan for the Irish hare, drawn up in 2005, noted the importance of public participation in monitoring efforts, including reporting of incidental sightings.
Sightings of hares can be reported on www.biology.ie.