6.12.11

Bracken hare



December's hare is called Bracken and he is going to my very first male customer. In nearly four years of needle felting, all my customers (apart from the odd one buying for his lady love) have been women.




Bracken is definitely a 'chap'; he is heavier in build than Willow and has big paws to 'box' with. There is a great little home video of boxing hares here.




I read somewhere that hares take on the colour of the earth where they live. Last Sunday we were over the border in Gloucestershire on a cold winter walk. There were three orangey tinted hares grazing - this is a terrible photo, but they are actually a long way from us, and my zoom was struggling.




This is the field next door, beautifully ploughed and glowing copper orange in the weak sunlight, not unlike Bracken himself. So maybe it is true; all the hares I have ever seen have matched the earth of their area.


10 comments:

Janet Metzger, Artist said...

Be sure to tell Bracken he has cousins in the states!

Great photo of the earthen fields and that gorgeous sky!

Be well Gretel and big hello to Andy!

janet xox
http://theemptynest-janet.blogspot.com/

Aunt Jane's Attic said...

How sweet is Bracken, a very handsome chap xx

Anonymous said...

Bracken is lovely! I have only seen a hare twice in the fields here, but wasn't able on either occasion to take a photo.

Charlotte said...

He is absolutely gorgeous. I just need to save and then contact you for my very own.

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

Love him!
And Love the name! It's perfect.

Soozcat said...

Interesting--I'd never heard that about hares. Wonder if it's also true of rabbits; most of the wild ones around here are the same greyish-brown color as the soil. It would certainly make sense from an evolutionary standpoint.

Claire said...

Hey Gretel, Bracken is wonderful, great name too........

A 'cold, Winter walk' sounds lovely.....was there hot chocolate and marshmallows at the end of it?

Love photos of ploughed fields and bare trees.......

Claire :}

ted and bunny said...

I'd heard about earthen coloured hares but forgotten I knew it if you know what I mean! I guess it makes sense as they nest on the ground.

I love Bracken's dark little points...in fact I love all of Bracken!

Hoping all is well with you,x

Jess said...

That's an amazing shot of the hares, you must have been quite close to them to capture that! Well done with your male customer. In the toyshop where I work it's mostly women who are the customers but that's changed this week, It must be christmas!
Jess xx

BumbleVee said...

... and ours change colour in winter so they are snow white. It happens gradually.... sometimes parts of them are white and parts are a lovely soft brown.. You can't see them at all when there is a blanket of snow on the ground..which around here is a looooong time .... ...perfect camouflage. They pop out of a snow bank and race along our snowy roads at breakneck pace ... sometimes right beside the car! they scare the daylights out of you if you are driving, darting all over the place. But, if they sit still.... you never know they are about at all.... just another lump of snow in a snowy field... or on our lawn, or over on the snowy golf course.... where a lot of them live....