Life and death on a Highland road

Leys Castle, Inverness The carcass would not last long with so many scavengers around and I expected that night a fox would carry it off to eat at leisure

Driving down the hill the other day, I spotted a casualty on the road ahead, and knew by its size that it was a brown hare. Of all the creatures I find dead or injured on the roads, the brown hares are the ones that upset me the most, not least because when they are hurt their hare scream is penetrating and eerie.

This one was a crumpled heap of light and dark brown fur. Its elongated hind legs were broken, but the long, broad ears stuck out almost defiantly. The carcass would not last long with so many scavengers around and I expected that night a fox would carry it off to eat at leisure.