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Thank you, Graham, for two very interesting and very different pieces. I share your love of Hares, and delight in seeing them in open ground, on the rare occasions when I do see them; actually it is usually only one at a time.  I had no idea what huge numbers can be found at night! When I was a child, about 100 years ago, we lived in Seasalter, next to Whitstable, on the North Kent coast. There were lots of rough grazing fields behind our house (sadly, all gone now, a housing estate has covered all that open land) and only 30mins walk away were Seasalter Marshes, partly cultivated but lots of grazing cattle, and Horse Mushrooms in September. And Hares, both on the old marshes and on the slopes behind our house. We loved to watch them then. Sometimes we came across a young one, in a 'form' , huddled in a tuft of thick grass. A young one is often parked by its mother, while she gets some food, and the youngster is clearly told not to move out of its hiding place until mum comes back to collect it.  We always left it alone.

My mother had, but hardly ever used, the original Mrs Beaton, which had a recipe for jugged hare. It began: ' first, catch your hare....'; we were told you had to see which way it was moving, outrun it (!!!) and sit on it. We never succeeded in that respect, but my mother got one sometimes from the local butcher, who had a friend who went out and shot some at intervals.  Then you had to hang it for a week.  The stench was dreadful. Then you had to gut it and skin it, and cook it in a casserole in the oven for at least four hours.  Wild animals are usually quite tough, so a long slow cook was essential. The stench was terrible during this long cooking, and when the dish was set before us at supper, I and my younger siblings were close to throwing up!  I won't continue, lest some of you feel equally nauseated.  Eating it was difficult, as the animal was full of lead shot, which you had to spit out. My parents loved it, but the rest of us loathed it! But seeing the live Hares running around was wonderful.  More recently, there are some on the landfill site by Ferry Lane, Rainham, and also near Bradwell, where we love the beach and the saltmarsh and the views from the seawall, and the sight of a Hare or two ,usually from the sea wall.