Tag: Fallow Deer

August 2nd – Up on the Chase for the first time in ages, and I realised how much I’d been missing it. From Hazelslade to Rainbow Hill, Slitting Mill to Birches valley, up Penkridge Bank, Rifle Range Corner, Abraham’s Valley, Seven Springs, Stepping Stones then Milford. From Milford to Brockton, down into Sherbrooke Valley via Brockton Field, and back via the former RAF Hednesford. 

Once away from the crowds it was a treat, and the deer ar Brockton were an unexpected joy.

September 28th – Up on the Chase on a balmy, sunny afternoon that apart from the colour, could have been May rather than September.

I came up through Heath Hayes and over Hednesford, over the site of the RAF base. I loved the new RAF Trail markers with the roundel.

Birches Valley was rammed, and not a hugely enjoyable ride – it’s hard to let rip when around every corner there are kids, or loose dogs… So I headed for Abrahams Valley via Penkridge Bank, and was relieved to see not just a deer fawn, but clear space with few people over there.

The pines are beginning to turn – another week or so and they’ll be gorgeous.

I hopped from Seven Springs to Stepping Stones, over Milford Common and Shugborough, where from the zigzag bridge I watched two horse riders cautiously fording the trent. 

Racing back through Longdon, a familiar patch of cyclamen I forget every year until they flower, and they take me by surprise. Such delicate, lovely flowers.

It’s good to be back on decent weekend rides after so long waiting for the foot to sort itself out.

May 12th – Not often I see this. In fields just to the east of Penkridge Bank on Cannock Chase, a herd of about 40 fallow deer, grazing and browsing on the pasture. It was raining, and very quiet, and I think they were taking advantage of the generally human-free conditions. The herd was split into two groups, the other being in and beyond the treeline. 

I watched them for a good 20 minutes. A remarkable sight.

March 11th – The encroaching spring doesn’t trouble the fallow deer at Penkridge Bank, Cannock Chase much. Here rain or shine, winter or summer, tis sizeable herd of deer loaf in this area as there’s ready food and ideal woodland close by. These animals are used to humans and merely wary of me and my camera, losing interest when they realise I’ve no carrots. What a joy it must be to live here and see them daily. The children of a nearby house are so used to them, they take no notice….

December 28th – It was so windy, the only place to head for a bit of decent cycling was the shelter of the Chase. Although the wind blasts through there as it does anywhere else, there is safe haven in the woodland tracks and valleys. I did the usual loop of Birches Valley, Penkridge Bank and Abraham’s valley, before scrambling up Hayood Warren at dusk and heading back up Haywood Slade and Marquis Drive to Castle ring across country in darkness. The fallow deer were in their usual spot, happily feeding. 80 or so photos, but the light was so poor only a few were usable. Curse the winter… I also saw 2 muntjac, a first for me. Hurtling out of the thicket near rifle range corner, they were a blur of red fur about the size of a labrador, and then gone. A wonderful sight.