Defying the worst late February weather, I managed to visit a Kent island which still boasts the nearest thing to wilderness within easy reach of London.

Wildlife-friendly estuaries, shores, reedbeds and agricultural fields survive on Sheppey among bucket and spade resorts, multiple caravan sites and heavy industry.

During a brief let up in the gales and rainstorms this trip turned out to be superb for glimpses of rarely seen mammals.

Many resident mammals were introduced to our countryside from overseas and most are hard to spot because they are mainly nocturnal.

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So I was delighted to see five types of mammal in a day on windswept Sheppey. Rabbits, introduced by Normans not by Romans as many believe, are fairly common on farmland and seals often haul out on sandbanks in rivers and estuaries around Sheppey. A variety of horses endlessly chew grass and provide manure for insects.

Stoats are the main enemy of rabbits. Their silent, stealthy hunting techniques make them difficult to spy but up popped an inquisitive adult from long grass just a few yards away. It suddenly stopped, pulled itself up to full height displaying its white belly and black tail tip before disappearing back into the undergrowth.

My fifth mammal was the captivating brown hare. I saw 13 on Sheppey's Elmley National Nature Reserve. These normally secretive creatures had abandoned caution, sitting out in the open on grassy fields and agricultural land as they prepared for their annual March festival. Probably introduced to Britain before Roman times from the Netherlands, they are not called “mad March” hares for nothing.

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They indulge in “boxing” bouts where the female rises on long hind legs to ward off unwanted approaches from amorous males by lashing out with front feet. Both sexes will also be seen “haring” about at speeds up to 45mph in bizarre courtship races. I saw one doing just that. The hare’s reputation for speed made its mechanical equivalent a natural target for dogs in greyhound stadiums.

Try to watch hares during March and see whether you agree with my assessment that their long back legs, short front legs and black-tipped ears makes them seem like a Meccano model gone wrong.