Sounds like a Bad Hair Day by Gelhi Jones

Written in class in response to a prompt in the Writing Lesson Plan : Fashion Makes the Man (or Woman)

The rabbit warren was a peaceful place. Lots of procreation going on all the time, of course. The expression Breeding Like Rabbits has a great deal of truth in it, but doesn’t express the extreme quiet and happiness that that involves.

There was a long hedgerow, originally part of a field boundary marker, the hazels and blackthorn planted on a bank. Perfect site for a burrowing animal, the roots of occasional larger trees framing and supporting excavations, and the sloping site catching the light and warmth of all available sunlight.

Two bucks had long ago settled their differences and the females were content to become pregnant, produce their litters, mate and repeat the happy cycle several times each season. Predators were fortunately few – gamekeepers saw to that – but in this remote East Anglian field there was still the threat of a competitor, similar in so many ways, and to the casual observer perhaps identical. Nevertheless a serious challenger to rabbit tranquillity.

A challenge on several fronts, importantly “grazing”. The rabbits feared leaving the safety of the bank and their burrows and the extent of their feeding could be plainly seen in the grazed area – only 2 or 3 metres in any direction away from safety. Their competitors were bolder and could feed farther and for longer before fear overcame them. They were bolder in all respects, and when they approached the established warren the rabbits’ fear spread rapidly. The two bucks shivered as they smelled the opposition approaching. Their whiskers

twitched and their noses wrinkled. It dawned on them that they would have to move and yield to this opposition.

Their peaceful life would be ruined they realised, sadly, as the breeding group of hares came closer and closer to their threatened territory.