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A fox, a deer, a lake and a wood!

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Edited by Gill Burrell, Friday, 10 Nov 2023, 15:33

The recent walk that I made last Saturday ended at the quaint little church of St Marys, but it did not end there, from here I walked onwards and upwards to the far end of the little hamlet, passing rows of cottages, as well as some modern bungalows. Further along and a steep incline to walk, I crossed the road and there is a good green grassy bridle track to walk along, this took me to the footpath sign, leading to a a wooden gate, opening onto what appears to be a very large meadow.

What an amazing sight then meets the eyes,In the distance, but not too far away, I could see the sea , which was visible glinting in the sun on the horizon. I could even see the coast and the town not far from ours, with its tall landmark church spire, that is where my eldest son lives. You can also see rivers from here on a very clear day. I followed  the path down to a quaint little old bridge, over what is usually quite a fast flowing stream. However, today it did not sound like it was flowing very fast at all, in fact more like  only a trickle, which is a sure sgn of the hot dry weather that we are having lately!

Suddenly I heard a slight crack to the left of me,  there  under the trees I saw the most lovely little munctjac deer standing  drinking from the stream! I could hardly believe my eyes! my heart was beating so fast! He had lovely big black shining eyes and was the size of a large dog, he looked about him rather nervously, ears twitching  as he drank. After watching him a little while, I stood quite motionless,  hardly daring to breathe what a beautiful charming creature! Quite rare to see them during the day, perhaps he was thirsty. I tip toed silently as I could over the bridge, then I followed the footpath.

Emerging from under the over hanging trees, there I had  three footpaths to choose to walk. I chose the other larger  path goes straight on, between fields for about a mile or two more and passes by a private nature reserve and a beautiful lake.The path there is broad enough for tractors and farm equipment to trundle up and down,  and In the fields where the wheat was already starting to grow, but had not yet turned golden with the sun.

Passed by the beautiful lake sparkling in the sun it has a boat on it and looks really pretty, I would be tempted to paddle my feet in the lake, but the lake has a small fence around and a sign saying 'Danger'  So passed quickly on,  I came to a large wood, it is a private nature reserve but a public footpath runs all the way around  the wood,  another footpath then leads to a field.

I then found myself in the same  field where last year, I had seen the beautiful red fox, which  ran out from under a thick hedgerow on the other side and crossed the field to these woods. She may have had a den in there, but I didn't want to look, so as not to disturb her. I am sure she is still around here somewhere, as I have often caught a quick glimpse of her lovely red fury coat as she was running through the field.🦊

🏞🌲🌳🌾🐿🏡

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