St Winnold and the Mad March Hare

 The month of March is the time when spring is nearly upon us and we all turn 

our thoughts to  seed catalogues, planting and tackling those neglected garden jobs.                                      

Not without reason is March  known as the time of new life, weather permitting!

On St Winnolds Day, 3rd March, dire weather warnings are given out as windy and stormy weather is seasonable and are to expected at the beginning of March. 

First comes David 

Next comes Chad

Then comes Winnold, roaring like mad.

If the storms do not appear at the beginning of the month, it is saving itself for 

the three 'Borrowing Days' at the end of the month.

St Winnold , also known as Winwaloe,was a sixth century Cornish saint whose family fled to Brittany to avoid the Saxons and the plague. Son of Fragan, Prince of Dumnonia  ( Devon and Cornwall) and Gwen the Three Breasted. He was the founder and first Abbot of Landevennec Abbey in Brittany. He founded another Abbey after miraculously opened a passage  through the sea to the other side of the Landevennec estuary. After his death he was commemorated at a Monastery at Wereham, Norfolk.

He is the patron saint of churches.

New green shoots are pushing its way through the soil,birds are attempting to nest despite

 the wind and cold temperatures.

 And of course it is the time for the 'Mad March Hare' to start their mating rituals which include mad chases through the fields and the infamous boxing matches.

 It used to be thought that it was two males fighting over a prized female but now it is thought  more likely to be an unresponsive female seeing off an unwanted suitor.

We were lucky enough to see a field of hares earlier this year on the slopes of Maiden Castle near Dorchester. The chalky soil seems to be attractive to the creatures, allowing them to create small 'scrapes' where they seemingly disappear from view. This ability has given rise to the animal being associated with witchcraft. 

Their odd behaviour  caused people in the past to believe that the hare was a shape shifting witch or were- hares  and as such could only be killed with a silver bullet. Rowan and vervain would be placed on the gun stock as further insurance against the whiles of the witch.

The fact that they could stand upright on their back legs and their strange human like cry when in distress deepened the suspicion against these harmless creatures.