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Deer Among the Bluebells

I was walking on Ley Hill Common today and had just stopped to admire the bluebells when I saw a deer walk onto the path ahead of me.
 

The photo doesn't really show the scale, it wasn't fully grown and for a second I had thought it a large muntjac. It stayed still without any interest in me for a long enough to allow me to get out the phone and take the picture. Still unaware of my presence in then walked into the woods across the path and I approached much closer but without the opportunity of a photo. Finally it realised that I was there and bounded away with some wonderfully balletic leaps.

With the Covid-19 lockdown I have been taking some longer walks. On a byway between Latimer and Flaunden I was lucky enough to see a yellowhammer on the hedgerow. While I have often seen these birds perched on the hedges while driving down the local lanes this was the first occasion when there hasn't been a sheet of glass in the way. The number of birds singing on that walk also made me realise how little bird song I actually recognise.

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