THE Swindon area is set to be at the forefront of the battle to save one of Britain's best-loved mammals.

Studley Grange at Lydiard Tregoze and Blakehill Farm Nature Reserve, near Cricklade, have been chosen as two of only seven sites in the country to help secure the future of the brown hare.

The project to help the hare is funded by a grant from Biffaward, a multi-million pound fund using landfill tax credits donated by Biffa Waste Services.

Landfill tax is levied on the tonnage of material disposed of in landfill sites. It is aimed to encourage recycling and reducing waste by raising the cost of disposal.

Tim Stamper is landfill site manager at Studley Grange, which is owned by Biffa Waste Services.

He said: "We are delighted to be involved with this. We want to increase the numbers as the population is declining."

At the moment hares are sometimes seen in the area.

Mr Stamper said: "They are quite shy animals so we don't see them very often."

Neil Pullen, Swindon wildlife officer for the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, said: "We are about to launch Swindon's biodiversity plan, and brown hares are noted as a priority species.

"There is so much more we can do on farmland to increase the number of brown hares throughout Swindon borough."

Mr Pullen regularly visits Haydon Meadow to count orchids.

He said: "The last two years we have found the places where the hares are lying."

Hares lie overnight in 'forms', which are a kind of above-ground nest.

Although it was introduced to this country, the brown hare has been here for at least 2,000 years. Julius Caesar believed the Celts held them to be sacred.

The hare population peaked in Victorian times when gamekeepers controlled their main predators, foxes and buzzards, and farming suited their lifestyle.

In 1880 a law was passed allowing tenant farmers to take game animals.

Before that only wealthy landowners were allowed to kill hares.

Intensive farming caused an 80 per cent fall in numbers by the 1990s.

The brown hare has captured the imagination of writers and artists over the years.

Ted Hughes, past poet laureate, was so moved by driving over a hare he wrote a poem about the event.

On Saturday Wootton Bassett police arrested four suspected hare coursers.

They were arrested after being spotted on an unclassified road with four dogs and a dead hare near Malmesbury.

Dave Andrew