We’re fast approaching the time of year when hares get frisky in the fields. This has prompted me to offer you a closer look at one of the automata that I make regularly - Meadowlands. The automata features a pair of boxing hares and the title is a play on the word ‘ganglands’ (just in case you didn’t get it!). Happily, boxing hares are engaging in an aspect of their lives that ensures their survival - they’re dating, flirting, playing hard-to-get and mating. I have some sympathy for the females who, by necessity, spar with the males to maintain some control over their reproductive rights. It is to our benefit that this happens in open fields so we have the chance to witness one of the wonders of nature.

Back in the old days I took a bus to school that wound its a way along the Moray coast. The area is renowned for its fields of barley grown to supply the local whisky industry. Our bus chugged along the edges of these fields and I was often able to watch spring hares boxing in the fields when the barley was young. Even as a teenager I appreciated my good luck in having such an inspiring view on my way to school. I still see the hares on my visits back to Moray which always feels like a precious gift. Since moving south I’m afraid I’ve only ever spotted one Cornish hare. I suspect the landscape of south Cornwall doesn’t suit them and certainly, at the moment, the fields are so wet from endless rain that the hares would need boats! There’s an idea for my next automata.

If these hares look like a perfect gift you can find them here on my website.

So, as always, a new idea starts with a little bit of scribbling in a sketch book, then some paper cutting before committing my thoughts to metal. Copper is the perfect metal to capture the essence of hares, I love the fact that it takes on such warm earthy tones when its heated. It gives the best canvas on which to construct little dioramas of British wildlife. My next blog post will have more to say on this subject…