Deer Hunting

Walking through Speckled Wood yesterday morning on our way down to the village we had brief sight of a roe buck deep in the shade of the young deciduous trees that form the wood, so today we came back in hunting mode, searching through that section much more warily, and had the pleasure of....

....a staring match with the same young buck.

He has obviously formed the habit of staying stock still when humans approach, not moving unless he's sure he's been spotted. Today he might not have moved at all had not a much younger roe deer which we hadn't spotted suddenly taken panic and precipitated him into jumping over the fence and disappearing into the field beyond.

I saw the buck again, but briefly, when I walked back later and was feeling very pleased with myself when I met a man walking his dog who told me that, yesterday, he'd seen no fewer than four roe deer at the same time in the same woodland, and was aware more generally of many more deer in the woods above our house. Which leaves us with the question, "Where did they all go through the winter when the more open views through the forestry should have made them much more visible?