A morning of hare behaviours

I saw a behaviour this week that I had not witnessed before: a hare did the standing up on hind limbs thing but came towards me to do it.  Sounds so simple on the face of it, but... 

You may or may not know what message standing up on hind limbs conveys (I'll not assume that whoever reads this has read all my blogs in order, nor assume that people can remember them): it means, and I'll audaciously quote myself here, "I have seen you and know I can out-run you, and am demonstrating my vigour to you so don't bother trying to chase me".

Why run towards me to say that? Perhaps to reinforce the message, but I have just never seen this happen before. Instead, I wonder if he (I'll call him a male, as that makes sense in my reasoning) was defending a female- and there clearly was another hare with him.  As if to say "I know you have seen a hare: I am the hare you have seen, and I can out-run you". He did the standing up thing with (apparent) confidence.

I should say at this point that I was not creeping up on them anyway- rather I was heading back to the car, having decided the morning's photography had come to an end.  We saw each other as I passed the entrance to that field- as there was  a high hedge border, we had both been hidden from view until that point. And, of course, I did not then creep up and instead crossed the road to the far side, leaving them in peace. 

I also saw a (different) hare chasing a crow on that same outing. The crow was hopping along the ground and the hare charged, the crow flying away after a few paces from the hare.

But not all the hares were on the defence, I’m pleased to say.  One hare's response to seeing me was to turn side-on (as if to put me in direct line-of-sight), walk slowly to some nearby nettles then wander back the way it had come.  Thus providing the best photographic opportunity of the morning.