Doggone it!

So - here I was, back on the trail again. Not whole plants missing this time, but suspicious amounts of pruning having taken place.

This time I had a hunch, but after a while I straightened up and things went much easier. I examined the crime scene, the leaves had been removed with what looked like a biting action. Some kind of giant mutant snail maybe? No - that's clearly silly - there was no slime to be seen.

Casting around for clues, I found nothing, so I put the fishing rod down and got out my hand lens. There - something the size of an ant, easily overlooked, because it was an ant. But next to it, a single leaf, shaking in the breeze with fear, quivering like a ... ummm .... quivering thing.

I set off in luke warm pursuit, along the path. I felt led to the grass. The grass bristled, had I stepped on someone else's turf? No - I was clear.

However - not 10 feet away, and bold as an alloy of copper and zinc, was my target. The evidence fresh, the teeth sharpened, and the buck quickly passed. I called it in...