A rapidly deteriorating domestic situation forced a walk tonight; necessary for this reason but also welcome as I'd sat inside exhausted all day lamenting the waste of a beautiful day outside.
Lots about; starting with a fox cub, more foxes, hares.. well into the walk as I was finally starting to relax I stopped at a gate to watch a fox a couple of hundred yards away up the hill. Other than a deer ambling past the fox nothing remarkable happened for the few minutes I watched before it sauntered off..
Once it'd gone I turned back towards the path along the side of the hedge I was following and started to continue on my way; only to see maybe 80yds away a large white stag and two does watching me. Unfortunately my movement was enough to startle them and they were off through the hedge; I looked back through the gate and saw they had two fawns with them too as they ascended the hill and disappeared through the same break in the hedge at the top that the fox just had.
I took a detour and made my way up the hill, but by the time I got there they were long gone. Still musing on this I made my way back to the village; failing to initially spot a couple more deer very well camouflaged against the plouged field they were in; then behind them three hares in a row all bolt upright. I kept moving whilst slowly turning my head to watch them, as they all remained static but followed me with their gaze too.
Nice to see all this stuff about; especially the hares as I've rarely seen so many in one hit. On the surface the white stag is pretty special, however there's a farm just up the road with hundreds of the buggers so I suspect it's an escapee / descended of one of these. It's the second time I've seen it / a white one in that area..
I suspect the abundance of wildlife is a marker of the nights drawing in and everything making the most of the time / food it has before the temperature drops and things get tough.
