Trying to Establish Hare Populations
A small pilot study to establish hare population densities in grassland habitats at six areas in Conwy and Gwynedd was carried out in early 2006.
How it was done
1km stretches of footpath were walked at dusk using a high powered lamp to view any hares (and other wildlife!).
Straight line transects were used to allow population density estimates to be made using distance sampling techniques.
Very few hares were found. This does not necessarily mean that hares are absent but can lead us to assume that population densities would be very low in the areas surveyed.
In Gwynedd, only 1 hare was sighted. In this case it was not possible to carry further analysis as more than one sighting is required per transect.
In Conwy, three transects produced hare sightings. However, only two of these contained more than one hare per transect. In this case, the population density equation was applied to transect SH826663 and transect SH965756 with densities calculated as 1.65 hares per hectare and 0.22 hares per hectare respectively. In both instances, results from both visits to the transects were combined as one.
Habitat Analysis
The surrounding habitat of each transect was also studied. This allowed us to look at any similarities in habitat distribution for the four transects where hares were sighted. Brown hares are known to have a home range of between 20 and 40 hectares. For this study, an area of 30 hectares was covered.
All 30 hectare plots contained improved grassland.
Coverage ranged from as little as 30% to as much as 90%.
With the four transects that contained hares, the lowest percentage of improved grassland was 65% and the highest 90%.
Semi-natural broadleaved woodland featured in three of the four plots; however this habitat covered a very small area (1-3%).
In Conwy, the plot for SH826663 contained two types of grassland (improved and marshy) along with two types of woodland (semi-natural broadleaved and planted coniferous).
The second transect in Conwy that contained hares (SH965756) also held two types of grassland (improved and semi-improved neutral) and two types of woodland (semi-natural broadleaved and planted broadleaved).
The Next Step - Winter 2006/07
We are now on to the next phase of our Brown Hare projects.
In partnership with the Snowdonia National Park Authority, we are again aiming to get an idea of hare population densities. We have chosen 40 different sites throughout the National Park. These sites cover the habitats of conifer; broadleaf; sand dunes; upland acid grassland; heath; mosaic and lowland. Each habitat has 5 sites, except the lowlands which has 10.
Due to time limitations we have asked volunteers to take part in this survey. Each surveyor has their own transect which they will walk twice between the beginning of December and the end of February.
Download the transect methodology (word.doc) or (.pdf) here.
Look back here later in 2007 for the results.
