Moon gazing with the hares

Now 4am isn’t a time I often see, but I did this morning. For some reason I was wide awake too. It was still dark outside but the moon looked incredible behind the illuminated clouds. I popped outside to try and take a better photo of it, and crept to the top of the garden, where a dozen surprised bunny eyes shone back at me in the torchlight. I don’t know who was more shocked! So I apologised for disturbing them and headed back in.

I got dressed, grabbed my camera and decided it would be a shame to waste such a wonderful morning – especially given how mild it was. Inspired by a friend who’d recently shared her first hare photo I thought I would go and see if I could find the ones who left the tracks in the snow I found before.

It was all quiet until I reached the top of the hill, when I looked by chance over the wall next to the road. There was a hare! (where? way over there!) We caught sight of each other and I greeted them gently. Once they were happy they proceeded to bathe in the moonlight, then just as soon as they’d appeared, they were gone.

Then another appeared! A smaller, fluffier one who was running right towards me. She stopped, lay down a moment before getting back up and running closer to me. I couldn’t believe my eyes! She too decided to have a wash before settling down to gaze at the moon, which by this point was fainter and opposite the sunrise.

I agreed with her that it was indeed a beautiful morning as we stayed there in peace, in each other’s company. I asked her why hares always seem so fascinated by the moon, and she told me it was to do with the lunar cycles, and how linked they are to them. 10 minutes we remained this way together, before some idiot in a car decided that he would honk his horn as he drove past, and that was the end of that. Annoyed at the interruption but incredibly grateful to have had the experience I headed home for breakfast.