The Wildlife Trust will be on the look out for boxing hares on the Island, as they work with more than 20 volunteers to keep their records up to date.

Rhian Hughes, hare project officer, said: "Following our appeal for sightings we have had over 200 records of hares on Anglesey. What we are trying to find out now is exactly how many hares there are on Anglesey."

March hares tend to put up their dukes during breeding season, and although the common assumption is the hares boxing are both males, the majority of boxing is actually a doe fighting off the unwanted sexual advances of a buck.

Brown hares are easily distinguishable from rabbits with long black tipped ears, a tall and leggy appearance with a loping gait, and when hares run, the tail is held down so the black dorsal surface can be seen, not the white underneath as is the case with rabbits.

Rhian added: "Although we now have lots of hare records from Anglesey, we still need records from the public, so please send them to us."

Meanwhile, a major initiative has been launched to save the water vole, after experts warned they could become extinct in North Wales over the next ten years.

Workshops are being held for land managers, shooters, wardens and other conservationists in Gwynedd, Anglesey and Conwy to learn about trapping mink by using mink rafts, a sophisticated mink trapping device.

A scheme to eradicate mink on Anglesey, which has one of the most significant populations of water voles in Britain, is being extended to the mainland.

Rob Strachan, biodiversity officer for the Environment Agency said: "A targeted approach of mink management hand in hand with habitat restoration to safeguard the last remaining populations of the water vole across North Wales is needed. If we don't act now, the water vole will be gone within 10 years from much of North Wales."