Wild deer at Eastington Park

Rather late in the day I decided to go for a walk, and had it in mind to look for kingfishers on the canal to the west of Stroud, near Stonehouse. Once I reached Roving Bridge, close to Newtown lock, I realised that the light from the setting sun was very poor as the canal was shaded by a mass of tall trees along its southern bank. I stood on the arched brick bridge and could see no birds at all, so I crossed to the southern side and walked a few yards to where a large gate suggested a possible footpath to follow.

As I neared the gate I saw a sign saying ‘Eastington Park - Private’ and realised it was the former gateway to the estate, and was now completely closed to all traffic. I looked over the fence onto a large grassy field which edged onto the wood by the canal and saw some animals in the far distance, which I knew immediately were wild deer.

I quickly rested my camera on the barbed wire fence for support and cursed myself for not bringing my monopod. The fading afternoon light looked pretty with sunshine falling through another woodland illuminating the meadow’s grass. The deer looked up at me warily from a distance of a few hundred metres. I grabbed a few shots before they moved, and within a minute they’d gone to the shelter of the hedges at the edge of the meadow.

I walked back over Roving Bridge to the canal towpath and went westwards to the next lock but saw only a few ducks and coots nestling in the reeds. As I walked I saw there was a small gap in the woodland that allowed me to look over the canal and across to the meadow where I’d seen the deer. One of them was sitting under the lee of the tall hedgerow looking straight back at me still very warily. I don’t think I would make a very good deer stalker.