Early to bed

Tired yesterday after my Lymington trip, so got an early night.  Consequently I woke up at 6am, my favourite time for visiting the reserve.  And look who I saw again.  This is the lovely mumma of triplets (secretly my favourite).  Her kids were with her and I was able to count them, but they were buried in tall grasses further along the track and inaccessible to the camera.  The whole family were scoffing breakfast.  Mum appeared very hungry, she had her head buried in brambles most of the time, tearing off leaves as though her life depended on it.  Which perhaps it did.  I could see her ribs.

To eat bramble leaves with those thorny undersides, deer must have tongues like rubber!

I took a lot of shots, but this one was my favourite, where she just raised her head as the rising sun cleared the distant treetops.

The rest of the day I gardened and cooked and thoroughly enjoyed it.  And while in the kitchen around lunchtime I heard someone on Radio 4 talking about the River Itchen and actually naming the reserve.  That was fun too.

Hope your day's gone well  xx