With spring in full bloom it’s possible to come across roe kids – but do not touch
Bluebells, or, if you prefer, wild hyacinths, are my favourite flower. Indeed, I believe they form one of my first memories of woodland life as my parents would often take me in springtime through a wood which, at that time of year, was magically carpeted in blue and smelt heavenly!
That memory still lingers and is once more brought into focus by the emergence in woods and along roadside verges of bluebells in their tens of thousands. Blue carpets abound and the sweet scent of those delicate blooms permeates the air.
Meanwhile, new blooms of insect life add another dimension as the woods buzz with new and vital sounds. This is the stuff of life, as these vital pollinators busy themselves in that natural process of regenerating life itself.
Whilst every visitor to the woods at this time of the year knows, not only is the air heavy with that delicious, heady scent but it is also alive with the sound of music. Indeed, birds seem determined to celebrate not only those blue woodland carpets but also the bursting of fresh foliage as new leaves unfold to curtain the landscape in greens of many hues. And already the pace of life is quickening with a handful of the early birds even now feeding their young.
During these next few weeks, as more and more woodland residents strive to fulfil their destinies, that pace will continue to rise until the woods might seem to resemble an avian rush hour. As the days pass parent birds work themselves into a lather collecting insects as they try to satisfy fast-growing families!
Amid all this feverish activity, roe does are calmly preparing themselves for the arrival of the next generation, mostly concealed from our gaze. In quiet corners of the woods, perhaps among those bluebells, dewy-eyed kids will be carefully deposited – one, two or even, in some cases, three of them – by each doe.
Through an instinctive understanding of security she will not keep them together but place each new-born kid in a separate, secret location. The old predators on roe, wolves and lynx, are long gone. There are no eagles hereabouts and although it is not unknown for a fox to take a roe deer kid, it is rare. So, the biggest threat to these newly arrived kids is people and their dogs.
Roe are exceptionally good mothers. They will almost always choose secluded parts of woodland well away from paths in which to conceal their off-spring. Inevitably, there are times when people accidentally stumble across one of these “Bambis”. Obeying in-built instinct, if discovered, they are compelled to freeze and stay utterly still. The one thing those instincts ensure is that they will not get up and attempt to flee. This makes them very vulnerable.
Inevitably, there is a temptation to perhaps stroke such a foundling. If any reader finds him or herself in that position there is one vital rule. Don’t touch! Scent is a vital part of animal make-up and no scent is more alien to a roe