A NEW arrival to a Lake District animal park is poised to hop into the hearts of visitors this springtime.

Nibbles, a Mara or Patagonian hare, was born at the Lakeland Wildlife Oasis, at Hale, near Milnthorpe, shortly before Christmas.

But because young mara, which are actually related to guinea pigs, normally grow up in warmer temperatures, staff at the park decided that Nibbles would need extra care if he was to survive the winter.

Instead of spending its first weeks living down a hole and being fed by its mother, the baby mara has been living in the Wildlife Oasis kitchen where it has been hand-reared by staff.

Nibbles, who earned his name from his hearty appetite, is now gaining weight, although he has some way to go before he is fully grown.

Keeper Vicki Parr said that Nibbles was being gradually introduced to the group of adult maras at the park and would probably move outside permanently in April.

"When mara are born, they run off down a hole and their mothers will leave them for hours at a time," she said. "Because it is so late in the year, without any heat from their parents it gets far too cold for them."