Brown hares were once commonplace on agricultural land. Virtually every group of fields had hares on them, and in the spring mad hares (females fending off amorous males) was a common sight. No longer. An outbreak of pox, and more importantly, changes in agricultural practices, has decimated their population. They are now a rarity, and in many places now absent in the lowlands.

 The leverets are born above ground and at sign of danger the instinct of the leveret (young hare) is to sit tight on the ground. On grassland where they prefer to lie, agricultural practice has changed from haymaking to silage, being cut earlier than hay. The result is the leverets are inadvertently killed, hence no adults to breed.

Brown hares persist in reasonable numbers in upper Deeside and upper Donside, where there is more permanent pasture and scrubland on the lower slopes of the hills.

Not to be confused with mountain hares, the only true british hare which lives at higher altitudes than the brown hare. It is only the mountain hare that changes to white or piebald in the winter.