Wildlife watching from a wintery lane: Country diary 100 years ago

Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 14 December 1915

Mud, thick and sticky, was pleasantly veiled by the beautiful snow; then came the partial thaw followed by sharp frost. In lanes between white fields, where young beasts lowed plaintively, lacking sense to clear the covering and reach the grass, my cycle tyres crunched through the sugary compound on the unswept surface. Here a lapwing stood thoughtfully, now and then bobbing with that spasmodic jerk so suggestive of hiccough; there a few fieldfares wandered restlessly, calling as they flew, and under the hedge a blackbird searched for the haws it had wastefully scattered when food was abundant. The starlings alone seemed to be finding plenty of food; they bustled after the sheep, feeding on the green patches where the patient animals had grazed. The hare, looking very leggy as it lolloped across the snow, left characteristic but deceptive spoor, two footmarks side by side and two behind, one in front of the other. If we watch the hare travelling we do not see the forelimbs straddled, nor the hind feet placed in line; they are not what they seem, these marks, for the two in front were left by the long hind limbs; the forefeet, from which the hare gets little or no spring, touch the ground in succession. The powerful hind legs, at each spring, shoot ahead, and the feet strike the ground on each side and well in front of the balancing forelimbs.