Stag day

There's a wood near Netherfield that I've walked through before. It's thick and quiet. The pine needles are so thick on the ground that it's like walking on cushions.

At least, that's what it was like. A full third or half of the trees have been cut down! I understand that it was probably for timber rather than just mindless felling, and that the wood wasn't grown for people to walk in, but it's kind of sad.

You can hear the noises from the road now, which you couldn't before, since there are fewer trees to block out the sound. It's also much lighter, and there are a lot of broken branches lying on the ground that crack underfoot; it makes moving quietly quite a difficult task.

The deer are also more skittish. They're a dozen times easier to spot now that half their cover is gone. I saw three, maybe four, different groups. The first group didn't spot me straight away as I was standing still and they had their heads in some ferns. Then one started barking and they hopped off.

The highlight of the walk, though, was when I got deeper into the woods where the trees were deciduous and too thin or rotten to warrant cutting down. There was a small stand of coniferous trees (fir? hemlock? spruce?) and I sat under them to eat my sandwiches. The trees cast a lot of shadow underneath them because the canopy was so thick. I was about to leave because it was cold in the shade, when I saw a lone deer walking carefully down the wooded hillside.

It had antlers. Proper antlers. I know I mentioned seeing a buck near Netherfield before, but this time I was much closer. The antlers were bigger too, and my position meant that the deer in question could not see me.

If I had decided to eat lunch in the clearing, the buck would have seen me and leapt away. But as it was, he had no idea I was there. I must have sat there for half an hour, maybe even longer. I wasn't keeping track of the time. He just kept getting closer and closer.

At one point, there can't have been much more than a dozen metres (forty feet) between us. It was occasionally spooked by the smallest of noises; bird calls, twigs dropping from above, falling leaves, or just trees creaking. All normal noises for a wood. For a long time, it just stood there and looked off into the distance. I cursed at not having a camera.

Eventually, the buck walked a little too close. It froze before moving its head from left to right for a better angle. It seemed half-unsure whether it had seen anything at all. Then it jumped a few feet away, turned, and peered into the trees again. I think the fact that I wasn't moving had confused it a little. I didn't do anything; but it bounded off into the woods regardless.

Next time I'll take a cloak and a camera.