Meet Derek Whiteley, president-elect of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union!

Derek Whiteley got involved in natural history 54 years ago through the “boot camp” of the Sorby Natural History Society in Sheffield. His mammal recording activities were mentored and inspired by the late Derek Yalden (Manchester University and The Mammal Society), Bob Stebbings (the original national “batman”) Phil Richardson (Northants Bat Group) Colin Howes (YNU) and the late Mike Clegg (YNU).

Over the years he has been Sorby President, General Secretary, Treasurer, Mammal Group Secretary, Sorby Invertebrate Group Secretary, and edited the Sorby Record journal for 49 years. He is currently President-elect for the YNU.

Apart from mammals, he has recorded and published work on a wide range of invertebrates. Peter Skidmore and Alan Stubbs were his early mentors for studying Diptera. In 1988 Derek founded and edited the journal Dipterists Digest, still going strong as the house journal of the Dipterists Forum. In 1987 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society. He has partly moved to Wensleydale and become an active member of the Yoredale Natural History Society and enjoys exploring and recording in the Yorkshire Dales, despite the lack of Mountain Hares; but is still actively working on Peak District invertebrates.

Professionally he worked at Sheffield Museum for 25 years, then at Sheffield City Ecology Unit for 18 years (a total of 43 years with Sheffield Biological Records Centre). In 2011 he was seconded to Barnsley for a few years to set up the current Barnsley Biological Records Centre. He also worked part-time as a wildlife journalist, a Sheffield University lecturer, and a trainer for the Mammal Society. For some years he was Secretary of the Biology Curators Group a key organisation in the evolution of museum-based biological records centres in the 1970s and 1980s.

Derek has chosen the Mountain Hare Lepus timidus as his chosen species, which live in the Peak District on both sides of the Yorkshire-Derbyshire border. Currently the only English population, they were introduced in the 1870s and 1880s from Scotland by moorland owners interested in increasing their sport. A re-introduction is probably a more accurate term, as sub-fossil bone evidence shows that they were native in Late Glacial and post-glacial times, but were squeezed out of England and Wales as the land became forested, but survived in the Scottish highlands.

The reintroduced Peak District population thrived and expanded to fill the northern moorlands, where shooting parties recorded substantial daily “bags” in the early 20th Century. Surveys since the late 1960s have mapped and monitored the population which fluctuates influenced by a complex combination of natural and human factors. Although Mountain Hares are well adapted to survive a normal upland winter, very severe winters with deep snow into March and April have had an impact. Very wet summers with flash downpours are likely to lead to high leveret mortality from hypothermia. Mountain Hares do not have subterranean burrows, and the young take shelter in a “form” fashioned from a peat hollow or deep heather. Human persecution includes deliberate shooting on some estates, illegal hunting with dogs, accidental but careless killing by dogs with walkers and the increasing number of moorland fires in summer. Road casualties are all too common. It’s natural predators are mainly Red Fox and Stoat. Examination of moorland Fox scats shows a high frequency of white hare fur in winter, although some prey items will result from scavenged corpses. On two occasions Derek has witnessed moorland Stoats taking Mountain Hares. One involved a leveret; the other was a dead adult being dragged into a Stoat den.

Mountain Hares are very approachable with care. Often they hunker down in deep vegetation and bolt from under your feet. In snowless winters they are easily spotted with binoculars. Their white coats acquired in November and December contrast against the dark peat and brown heather. In patchy snow they are very well camouflaged. On sunny spring mornings they seem to enjoy sunbathing – sitting still for hours on a sheltered south-east facing slope catching the early warmth! Spring evenings are a good time to go hare-watching. Derek has enjoyed observing “leks” when hares gather together on an open peaty area, showing typical courtship behaviour – lots of chasing and “boxing”. Some of the best places include Bleaklow, taking the Pennine Way from Snake Summit northwards. Derwent Edge is quite good taking the path that straddles the county border to Back Tor and beyond. For the more adventurous hill walker the National Trust estate at Howden Moor has the best “Yorkshire” hares.

In March 1973 the late Colin Marsden led a Sorby meeting on an 18 mile transect to count and map Mountain Hares. It was repeated every year in March when the hares are starting to change from white to brown and are particularly active and conspicuous. Sometimes Sorby have mapped over 200 hares in a single day, showing a range of pelage colours from “all white” through various piebald combinations, as the brown summer coat grows through the moulting winter white fur. The walk became a social event with a scientific purpose and following Colin’s death was named The Colin Marsden Mountain Hare Walk (Whiteley 2019). In 2023, Sorby Natural History Society celebrated the walk’s 50th anniversary. As such, Derek’s interest in Mountain Hares goes back 53 years. He contributed the chapter on Mountain Hares to Yorkshire Mammals edited by Prof. M.J.Delany (Bradford University 1985) and co-authored The Mammals of Derbyshire (Alston, Mallon and Whiteley 2012) (see References).

An excerpt from Derek’s 2019 paper captures the magic of the Peak District moors… ‘the walk has a special intimacy for me. Apart from experiencing Mountain Hares and other wonderful wildlife, the landscape has its own charm. Certain paths, gulleys, streams, tors and even individual rocks hold memories and significance. Here I sheltered from a biting easterly blizzard, there I relaxed in the sunshine in shorts and t-shirt, there I had a sip of whisky from a hip flask to relieve the cold, and there is the path where we always enjoyed a final piece of chocolate and a change of socks. I used to dread the long yomp from Margery Hill to Dukes Drive, but these days, with the sun going down in the west, and an intimate knowledge of the topography, it is sheer pleasure. The names on the map, Wilfrey Neild, Stainery Clough, Featherbed Moss, Flint Hill, Wheel Stones, Outer Edge, Cakes of Bread, Salt Cellar, Cartledge Bents, Margery Stones, Bull Head Clough and many more, all have their own stories to tell.’

Recording and monitoring

Naturalists and the general public are encouraged to record their sightings of Mountain Hares using iRecord which shares records with all interested parties.

Further information and acknowledgements

There are many publications on Peak District Mountain Hares, but the following will provide a good start:

Alston D. Mallon D. and Whiteley D. (2012) The Mammals of Derbyshire. Derbyshire Mammal Group and Sorby Natural History Society.

Mallon D. Wheeler P. Whiteley D. Yalden D.W. (2003) Mountain Hares in the Peak District. British Wildlife 15 (2) 110-116

Whiteley D. (2019) Social Aspects of the Colin Marsden Mountain Hare Walk. Sorby Record 55 32-47

NEYEDC would like to thank Derek for his time and expertise in helping to create this blog.

The Natural History of Yorkshire in 100 Species

#62 Mountain Hare by Derek Whiteley

Recording and monitoring

Further information and acknowledgements