Hares in Rossendale
 

I was once out walking when I came to a wooden field gate, and when sitting on the gate to rest I noticed a hare in the distance. To my astonishment, it ran towards me and, staring up at me, it sat at my feet for the next few minutes. It was a magical encounter I've never forgotten. Then, in the 1990s I moved to Alden Farm, in Helmshore, and soon afterwards I remember seeing, in early Spring, hares 'boxing'. This was just past our farmhouse, up towards the head of Alden Valley. Subsequently, seeing hares in the valley was an occasional treat, but as we moved into the 2000s the sightings became fewer and fewer, and when I left the farm in 2022, they seem to have disappeared altogether.

 

Several local surveys have noted remaining ‘hare hotspots’ locally, and generally on the edge of the West Pennine Moors. These include Grane Valley and Darwen and Withnell, while the hares are a feature of Brockholes nature reserve at Samlesbury. There are several hare-related place names in Rossendale, notably Hareholme, and the deserted Musbury village of Hareclough. In 2024, just before he left the Rossendale Valley for the USA, the glass artist Alexis Valentine photographed hares (on this page) close to the Halo above Haslingden.

 

Around 700 sightings have been recorded around the region, in work supported by the SITA Trust and People’s Trust For Endangered Species. In 1999/2000 the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside ran a public postcard survey, which encouraged people to report hare sightings. It indicated a 75% decrease in the hare population since the 1960s.

 

Our hope is that the campaign to have Marjan Wouda's striking sculpture of Sir Hare permanently erected in the centre of Rawtenstall will regenerate interest in this strange and beautiful creature. You can help us with getting this sculpture on site in the centre of Rawtenstall - just go our Spacehive crowdfunder site by clicking the link at the bottom of the page.

 

LET US KNOW OF ANY RECENT SIGHTINGS OF HARES IN ROSSENDALE AND WE'LL ADD YOUR HARE TO THE MAP BELOW!