Anyway – yesterday started when we opened our door at 7:15am to see the young stag who has been visiting us with his mother since he was a fawn standing in the drive not five meters from us. He was off sharpish and I don’t think we will be seeing much more of him as he has been supplanted by a new young one, and will soon be up on the hills getting ready to collect himself a harem. To continue the deer theme – we went on for our walk and heard a stag roaring up on Beinn Donich for the first time this year. Then Mum and this year’s fawn were on the lawn all afternoon – I think they more or less live in the wild part of our ‘garden’ down near the river.

We have a new heron on the pond – I think it is a youngish one because it is significantly smaller than the one we used to see and is also very skittish.

Then to complete the wildlife theme, Schrodi had no less than three rodents during the night – one dead short tailed vole, one dead field mouse, and an unidentified one (as R puts it “a wee brown thing”) which was released unharmed. Apparently cats on average only bring 50% of the things they kill into the house – so if that is true he had six during one night.

I’d love to have the expertise to identify the species as I am a big fan of food from the wild, but I draw the line at potentially poisoning myself and R, so I passed on gathering them and just took some photos.

Today was also a good day for wildlife. I was on the phone in my office this afternoon when the fox came out of the wood and slowly made his way up the path, smelling everything as he came. He really is a beautiful creature, so I hope he stays off the farmer’s land. I also hope the cats stay well clear of him. Anyway, after the call I was just walking down the hall when I saw something move in the back garden; it was a red deer and her newish looking fawn, still with its spotted coat. I also saw our little roe stag today – his antlers are getting quite big now.

And I gathered some cherries from the tree today – they tasted good although the skins were a bit split.

The heron is catching so many of the poor frogs that today for the first time I tried shoeing him off – just to give them a chance of enjoying their conubials in peace for a while. But to no avail; three times I chased him, and each time he was back within half an hour. The ducks are also spending nearly all their time on the pond at the moment – they are very sweet the way they sleep on the water with their heads tucked under their wings.

Then this evening there was one mature red deer hind and a yearling – presumably her offspring from last year grazing on the back lawn. Hopefully they will keep clear of the daffodils which are now coming into full bloom. As soon as R saw them he ran to get the anti-tick liquid for the cats – it is about that time of year again.

The picture is a bit of a cheat as I didn’t manage to get a photo of the heron today. As you can probably tell from the lush vegetation, that one was taken in the correct location, but in June last year.

Most of the deer are extremely skittish and will run off at the slightest sound, but she just started at me with a bunch of grass hanging out of her mouth. When I stepped outside she unhurriedly vanished off into the bracken.

I can’t prove she ate my apples beyond reasonable doubt – but she is the chief suspect nonetheless….

The day before yesterday I thought it was getting close to being ready. Yesterday I went and checked it again, and there was only one solitary apple left on it. I think I know the culprit as the deer fence surrounding it had all been bent back and R and I had seen red deer in the garden several times this week.

R calls them ‘the tickbags’ and says we should start shoeing them away when we see them. I actually like them, although I am sorry to lose my apples.

Then tonight we were visited by a lovely red deer and her fawn. It had a really good investigate of the back garden for about ten minutes – including a go at getting in to the vegetable cage. R seemed to soften to them after seeing that – though he really hates them passing ticks to the cats (and him of course!).

Then I went down to gather more strawberries by the pond and a tiny frog the size of my thumb jumped out from behind a leaf. I still haven’t managed to get the iconic photo of one on a lily pad though!

On a slightly less pleasant note – Schrodi is currently very busy on the small rodent front. He brought us a dead pygmy shrew this morning, and then about half an hour later R noticed him sniffing in the corner over something alive. I never got a good look at what it was because I grabbed it and put it outside where it disappeared rapidly into the undergrowth. It was possibly a water rat because it was very large for a mouse – but whatever it was it had a savage bite – right through the end of my finger! Nature bites back….

Firstly – we finally saw our friend the pine marten in the flesh for the first time. He seems to have been visiting the feeder much earlier – around 9pm rather than 2am, and last night I just glanced out of the window and there he was – this time munching away at the nuts I had put on the ground for the badger. Very luckily my mum was here and not only got her first view of a badger, but saw this as well.

He (or perhaps she) was smaller than he looks in the videos, and this, plus the different times he is turning up at, leads me to suspect that this may be a different marten to the one who eats from the feeder. Perhaps because he was on another (larger!) marten’s territory, he seemed very nervous and I was scared of frightening him if I went outside – but through the window we had a wonderful view of him eating his nuts for about 15 minutes. His fur is really beautiful with a lovely cream coloured ‘bib’ and he has an amazing fluffy tail.

Because it was through the window, the only photo I could get was not worth displaying, but it was magical to see him at last.

And then later that night we saw an owl (couldn’t tell what species) fly past the webcam. We are also seeing the deer in the garden most early mornings and evenings.

Yesterday I took my life in my hands and moved my first early potatoes which were growing in containers outside in order to free up a bit of space. I now need to get the deer fencing up as a matter of urgency before everything gets eaten, so this afternoon I dug out ten of the twelve holes needed for the cage I have bought. The poles need to be buried 14″ deep, and in this garden it turns out, 12″ is the absolute maximum you can go down without hitting what feels like bedrock. It isn’t really but I have dug some huge stones out this afternoon. I did notice that the other thing I need to protect from is the cats who have the idea that the area is a huge toilet which has been created specially for them.

Most importantly – some of the things I optimistically sowed back in January are now ready to eat.

I thought the radishes were ‘delish’ but even though R tried to be polite, I could tell he was not enjoying them.