Wildlife Blog by Ron Allen – 22 November 2020
22 November 2020 Roe deer
Mary and I walked into town for our Sunday paper and stopped on the way back to look over a gateway on the north side of the Winchester Road close to the A3 crossing and there, in the distance, were four roe deer in a beautiful autumnal setting. Two of the deer were grazing, one was lying down with only its head showing and the fourth, a particularly dark animal with a bright white rump, was close to the hedge. My mobile phone secured several photographs.
Most often we only see their hoof prints (a double slot about 4cm long) but sometimes we see the animals themselves in our local fields and woodland. They usually see us long before we can get close to them and give their presence away with sharp bark. Occasionally, I have managed to get close enough for a photograph. Several times our automatic cameras have picked up roe in our garden.
Walk slowly across our footpaths and scan the fields, especially alongside the hedgerows, and you may see them. Roe are small deer, rusty red in summer and greyish in winter with a distinctive white rump and no tail. The bucks have small antlers with up to three points. We usually see them in distant small groups of between three and five, occasionally more.
