A close encounter

On my way home from school this evening, I drove around a bend in the lane and saw a leveret in the road... something wasn't quite right about its behaviour and I as approached, I realised it was blind. It heard the car, but couldn't see it - or where it was going.

I pulled in and watched it zig-zag across the road, finding its way without sight, until it stopped on the grass verge and started nibbling the plants.

I got out of the car and crept up on it, almost silently, without disturbing it. I sat within a foot of it and just watched it!  Both eyes were very red and clearly not working. I've never seen a blind hare before - as far as I'm aware, Myxomatosis doesn't affect hares, only rabbits, so I don't think that was the cause - could it have been born blind? I don't know.

It seemed fine other than the lack of sight - it looked healthy apart from that and it was eating but I don't suppose he'll live for too long with such a disadvantage.

Sadly, I'd lent my usual camera to my sister and hadn't wanted to bother bringing out the DSLR so all I had was my phone, which is very old! Terrible photos, but better than nothing. 

I made sure the hare had returned to the field before I left, rather than wandering blindly on the lane (even though it's not busy).

Obviously, I felt sad for the leveret but it was a magical experience to sit right next to it! I spent about half an hour with it, in the evening sunshine. A sparrowhawk came over too and sat in a nearby tree (if only I'd had a decent camera with me, it would have been a great photo!), as well as numerous other birds.  I thought I'd blog it here as this was such a lovely, unexpected 'wild' moment on my way home from school and it's magical moments like this I hope I'll have more of next month through 30 Days Wild - when I'll be making more effort than usual to seek them out!