The other way into the copse

The Gaia spirit was with me today.

Bob ate twice from my hand, grasping hold for a split second each time with his claws. The little mouse poked his head out from behind the box and when I put down food, he took it. Holding the suet pellets in his tiny paws.

Then I went for a "run" and sat by the young oak in the copse to bathe in birdsong.

I stood up and was about to leave when something drew me onward.

I was thinking of how I had flushed out a hare a few days earlier in the not Ancient Woodland. I had startled him when just a few feet away. I think he'd been sleeping under a tree and he ran away. And I remembered how I had seen a hare in this copse. I was just walking and smelt something under a tree. I didn't know what the smell was and walked on, then I saw them. Two hares scampering around ahead of me. They seemed to be... playing? It wasn't aggressive or scared, they were just hopping around. They went out of sight and I moved on.

I went to where I had seen them grazing and then got interested in where I was... next to a large opening I didn't recall and... it all felt... magical. Suddenly I saw a hare nearby. I thought she knew I was there but didn't care. I got out my phone. This video is long... but, really, it's amazing.

Here's the boxing bit again.

She is shadow boxing! According to the Woodland Trust:

The boxing usually occurs when a male is being too persistent with a female, chasing her across fields in an attempt to mate. When she’s had enough, she’ll turn around and try to fend him off in a fierce boxing match! This behaviour can go on for weeks.

I think her boxing was a warning to me - that she had seen me and that, thank you very much, she could look after herself.

She bounced off and I was there, with the wrens and tits and chiffchaffs in a state of utter bliss. I stood up and turned around to go. But there she was again!

She had circled round and was there in front of me.

After this, I had to leave. She may have had leverets nearby and wanted to protect them.

Hares are thought to be grassland creatures, but I keep seeing them in woods. I think they are changing their culture. If so, it's a good reason to keep dogs out of these woods.