As Sue and I walked to the fields near where we live at Flackwell Heath this evening, we could hear the sound of tractors as they were clearing away the Barley crop in a very large field. Overhead were four Red Kites obviously hoping for a few tit-bits uncovered by the harvesting. Dozens of Red-leggedPartridge (recently released) were milling around all over the place. But the most amazing sight of the walk was of a pair of ROE DEER. These appeared at the edge of a square of Maize that had been planted to support the Partridges and Pheasants. First of all a splendid stag with long antlers appeared and then a lovely doe, both looked to be in excellent condition and only about 60 yards away. I quickly put our dog on the lead and continued to watch as the doe walked across the field with the stag very close behind! So close that you could not see his nose! No doubt the mating season is here again and for a moment we did wonder if the pair might get more amorous, but a passing tractor seemed to take their attention. The only shame of it is that it was the only time in recent months that I have not taken my camera with me. With it's 18x zoom I could have got some amazing images.
The only other birds of interest were 3 COMMON SWIFTS over Wooburn Green (Jim Rose)
The Roe Deer images above were kindly provided by Stuart Read
