Haven to protect threatened hares

A nature reserve on Teesside aims to help stem the decline in the nation's brown hare population.

Coatham Marsh, near Redcar, is owned by Tees Wildlife Trust and has previously shown signs of increasing the wild brown hare population.

An officer will be appointed to record existing numbers and identify and maintain the best habitat for this vulnerable animal.

This is part of a national project to double the hare population by 2010.

Brown hares thrive in grassland and arable fields, but because they do not dig burrows, they require undisturbed areas for cover and raising their young.

They have been a familiar face across the British Isles since Roman times, but have substantially declined since the 1960s and have now been classified as a "vulnerable species".