Tonight whilst strolling through an ancient meadow filled with orchids and long grasses, I realised I was being watched by a female roe deer; she was a picture as her coat shone a lovely golden-red in the sunshine. I left the meadow through an old gate and realised too late that I’d disturbed a wasps nest in the hollow fence post. Feeling a sharp pain as I was stung in my hand, I closed the gate as quickly as I could with the wasps buzzing angrily around my head….I think I got off lightly. 

In the woods I saw another young roe in the distance and a few minutes later, the pain from the sting faded into insignificance as I spied a male roe in antler and crouched down quickly. He sensed I was there, and started to walk in my direction pausing only periodically to sniff the air. I couldn’t believe my luck as his curiosity got the better of him. He continued to approach until he was 9 feet away, and then stood majestically as we gazed at one another in the glow of the evening sun. Realising I was no threat; he finally decided to leave and walked away with that distinctive stiff-legged gait. Once at a safe distance he barked at me and gave me ‘what for’! I replied – and we chatted for a further 3-4 minutes :).

A super experience, and feeling extremely lucky to have had such an encounter, I continued along the track and happened to glance to my left.  To my amazement and at eye level with me, sat a Tawny Owl on a bare branch, and only 6 -7 feet away. My heart skipped a beat. I couldn’t believe my luck and I so wanted to stop and look, but didn’t want to spook him – so I just glanced at him nonchalantly a couple of times as I strolled on by. 

Off the woodland track and onto the golf course, the walk was rounded off watching 5 super swifts performing aerial feats above the golf course lake. No camera with me… a wasp sting, but one of the best evenings walks ever. Luka enjoyed it too, and was as good as gold throughout…