Broken Antler

Gorgeously sunny day but freezing cold! We had a walk in Knole Park accompanied by bacon sarnies and cups of tea.

There were lots of deer around today, including this fella who had obviously been in a fight at some point (probably during the rut in the Autumn) and had half an antler missing. He didn't seem bothered by it.

There is is strict rule in the park about keeping dogs on leads and for good reason with all the deer roaming around. In all the times we have been here we have never seen anyone disregard this rule, until today. Some idiots had let their excited spaniel off the lead and the dog followed its natural instinct and chased a group of hinds across the park... they disappeared at high speed into the woods with the owners following at some distance behind. We just hope that no deer were hurt and we also hope the people were told to take their dog and leave, never to return (once they'd caught it, of course). It wasn't the dog's fault that this happened, but the owner's fault for thinking they knew best... or they just weren't thinking at all or acting like responsible dog owners. (Rant over.)