March 17th – I haven’t seen the local deer for a while. I know they’ve been about from the reports of others, but my path and theirs hasn’t crossed. This is unusual, and I’ve missed seeing them. I like the red deer a lot, and feel quite some attachment. I think it’s partially due to the fact that they wander so freely, and pretty much appeared unannounced. They’re like odd, brown, cervine ghosts; you see them often enough to know they’re there, but the movements they make from place to place are unseen and mysterious. Recently, they’ve been on Clayhanger Common. One has to wonder how they got there… you can’t enter clay hanger without crossing the canal.
Today, they were on the fields of the former Highfields Farm, south of the M6 Toll near Chasewater. I spotted them first from near the Poole Crescent footbridge, and then got closer shots from the roadside near the old farm. The group of does – I think there were about 15 in total – were loafing and grazing, and were not disturbed by my presence.
I love these graceful, beautiful animals. It’s lovely that we have them here. Such unexpected, wild beauty in a postindustrial place.
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