"Doe A Deer, A Female Deer ....

.... Ray, a drop of golden sun."

And that comprises my blip. The weather has been awful today but just before lunch the sun came out briefly. Jazzy and I made the most of it and went hunting. As we were walking along Butterfly Alley I thought that she seemed very happy. She had her nose to the ground, her ball in her mouth and was holding her tail in a characteristic curve. Suddenly a fallow deer doe burst through the hedge and ran the length of the alley, swerving sharply at the end. (Extras)

Jazz was confused. I crossed the sleepers over the ditch and there was the beautiful beast standing staring at me out of the shadows from the bank of the lake. What captivating doe-eyes she has. We have seen fallow deer on our property before but this is the first time I have captured one.

Fallow deer are naturalised, though reintroduced. Around 400,000 years ago they were present in Britain but later glaciations restricted them to the Mediterranean basin. The Normans reintroduced them in the 11th century. In 1612 the Danish Ambassador to England presented King James I with a number of melanistic (dark) fallow deer. My darling deer is descended from them. The word 'fallow' means 'pale brown' and mine isn't.