National Hare Survey & Population Assessment 2017-2019

Abstract

The Irish Hare (Lepus timidus hibernicus) isan endemic sub-species of the Mountain Hare (L. timidus) and the only lagomorph native to Ireland. There is an invasive population of non-native European Brown Hare (Lepus europaeus) in Northern Ireland. The Mountain Hare is listed under the EC Habitats & Species Directive (92/43/EEC) and Article 17 requires that member states regularly undertake national conservation assessments of its status. The Irish Hare colonised Ireland after the last ice age, differing from other mountain hares in that it is larger, has a distinctly russet-red coat that does not turn white in winter, and exhibits a highly flexible ecology, being found from the seashore to mountain summits. Its diet is predominately grasses and it prefers heterogeneously structured rough or unimproved grassland, where its dual requirement of good quality forage for nocturnal grazing and daylight shelter for lying-up are provided in a fine grain patchwork at less than 50 hectares in extent; a typical hare’s home range. In common with other farmland species, there is evidence that its population declined substantially throughout the 20thcentury due to agricultural intensification and landscape homogenisation, with a series of recent studies suggesting populations have stabilised at fairly low densities of c.three hares/km2 since 2000. The aim of this project was to estimate the current mean population density and the national total population of the Irish Hare and to examine variation in its population across space and time (principally since the Hare Survey of Ireland 2006/07. The NPWS Project Officer for this report was: Ferdia Marnell; Ferdia.Marnell@chg.gov.ie. This IWM was edited by Ferdia Marnell, Rebecca Jeffrey & Áine O Connor