Mysterious 'white rabbit' appears once a month and waves at commuters

Some puzzled passers-by describe the rabbit as 'sinister'. Photo / Twitter / @SarickwoodSarah

Over the last year, a six-foot-tall white rabbit (or, more accurately, a man in a rabbit costume) has been turning up in the same spot in west London on the first day of the month

With a colourful striped scarf around his neck, he appears close to Barnes bridge, where he waves at motorists, sometimes while props or wearing themed additions to his rabbit costume.

On the first of every month there's a bloke who dresses as a white rabbit and stands by the river in Barnes waving at people. pic.twitter.com/hBphhyERU1

— Elizabeth Ammon (@legsidelizzy) November 1, 2016

A little googling discovers he has his own Facebook page - I AM White Rabbit - where he describes his raison d'etre as being "spreading un-conditional love." His philosophy, he says in sage-like tones, is "just to be present, nothing else other than being."

The Facebook page features a number of photos and videos of the white rabbit wandering around the place - and it turns out that Barnes Bridge isn't his only hangout.

His online biography mentions that he's appeared at a royal wedding in London, at the Tate Modern and the Chinese embassy, where he campaigned against the detention of the artist Ai Weiwei, and at Supernorma l festival in Oxfordshire.

A little further digging reveals that white rabbit is the alter-ego of Spike McLarrity, a "live art durational performance artist".

"My work deals with my own autobiography," he writes, adding that his appearances as the white rabbit aim to "find a new way to reach a different audience and to bring fine art and performance together."