Mountain Hare at Loftend Quarry, Crowden

This was my first sighting of a Mountain Hare (Lepus timidus), it happened in 2007 near a old abandoned quarry called Loftend Quarry at Crowden, Derbyshire in the Peak district. At first I though it was a Brown Hare but on closer inspection I realised it was slightly different, the main giveaway was it's tail, they stay white through out the year unlike a normal hare which black on top of its tail. The mountain hare is the only true british hare, the Brown Hare coming from Europe.

As this one was seen early in the year, it may have just changed from it's familiar white winter coat. I did not notice it at first, only when it moved did I train my camera on it, and even them I struggled to focus. As you can see from the photo below it was some way off, but I managed to get a photo that enabled me to identify as a hare.

Loftend Quarry has been disused for years, it used to produce kerbstones from the stone for sheffield, but nature has reclaimed it now.