Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Close encounter with a roe buck on early-morning walk
THE galloping of hooves on a metalled road is not a sound you expect at 7.30am on a spring morning in a quiet country lane.
It was too early for horse riders and galloping on a hard and slippery surface is not recommended, anyway.
But the hoof beats I heard yesterday morning were too lightweight to be a horse, in any case, and all became clear seconds later when a handsome roe buck dashed from the lane, through a partially opened field gate, yards from me and the dog, out for our morning walk.
Something had clearly disturbed him and he pelted by, almost close enough to touch.
My dog is – by spaniel standards – pretty steady.
But I feared she might give chase, so distracted her with a shouted call, then secured the lead.
The deer cut across in front of both of us and galloped across a field of winter barley, already thick and green, despite the dry weather of the past couple of weeks. We followed at a more sedate pace down the side of the field and as we approached the fence, where the deer had almost certainly crossed into a rougher area of pasture and woodland, the dog’s nose twitched again.
The dry, bare soil at the edge of the barley had been disturbed and it looked as if someone had shaken a mop full of water onto it – pretty clear evidence that the roe buck, with a soaking wet coat – had leapt the fence here, leaving the tell-tale water marks behind.
On my way home, I met another early-morning dog walker, who said she had seen a little group of roe deer grazing further up the valley. Numbers are clearly on the rise.
‘My’ buck was a dark shade compared to many roe I have seen – more chocolate than caramel.
His antlers were small, but pointed.
I’m glad he missed me.