Saturday 20 June 2020

There, there, my dear




Another Saturday morning up Wessenden, and another deer/dire situation. This time we were working and heard a godawful screeching racket the other side of the reservoir. Turned out to be a distressing altercation between some deer and a dog. We think a mother deer and a young un, with the young un running off and taking refuge down by the water (pictured) and the mother scrapping with the dog then running off with the dog in pursuit. They put down dogs that worry sheep, probably no such penalty in this case. The picture was taken with a combination of my telescope with Jess' phone, 20x optical magnification achieved, with arty circle effect too.

It seems to be an effect of the epidemic, more people out enjoying the countryside, including more dogs. The deer had probably got used to a quiet life over that side of the reservoir, but now theres a near constant stream of people and their dogs going over there. And, using our tree guards as dog chew toys when there are not deer to chew on.

We were: myself, Geoff, Jess, Peter, Tanya and Ben in one group. Dave Hap and Stephen in another group. And Philip, Cath, Jared, Alastair and John in  the third and furthestmost group.

Lots of bracken got bashed and guards straightened.

And one of my all time favourites for the music.