I emerged half-asleep from the house the other morning to wander down the path to our garden office which nestles in quiet seclusion under the mature oak and pine trees at the end of our garden. My dreamy reverie was suddently shattered when a startled muntjack deer seemed to explode from a pile of fallen leaves near the office pausing only for a quick glance before dashing off under some bushes, out of sight. Difficult to know who was more stunned, me or the deer.
Anyway, over the course of the next few days I've seen the deer, never far from the office, on several occasions and I've noticed that it has is carrying an injured hind leg - probably hit by a car, I imagine. At some level I feel quite privileged that it has chosen our garden to seek sanctuary, and I'm certainly hoping its leg will mend and isn't so badly damaged as to endanger its survival, so really, I want it to wander back to wherever it belongs. Having said that, it is quite lovely seeing it in the garden as I type these words. What to do about it? Savour the moment and just let events sort themselves out?
Probably the best thing.
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Clive,
How fantastic!
I'm not really up to speed with the different types of deer but we have one that has been coming to our garden with her two young (one male and one female) and she's been doing this with each of her new charges for about 7 years now.
She also came to our garden to heal following a leg injury - a broken foot - we left her be and she just got on with it. Although you can see that there has been some damage she gets along quite fine.
Probably the most remarkable thing about it is that we live right in the centre of Inverness! Although she is far from tame she will come and stand close to the house an wait for us to throw apples to her. She also doesn't really mind if we are in the garden working and will happily lie down and watch us.
Enjoy your wildlife Clive.
Jacqueline
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Wow! 7 years! That's amazing, Jacqueline. It just goes to show that there is probably a whole lot more wildlife living right near us than we are probably normally aware of. We live near Slough, which is hardly a natural wilderness, but we regularly see red kites circling low over the house and only half a mile away there is a family of four buzzards who I see whenever I'm out that way.
I do think it enriches one's life to see wildlife up close.