Friday 31 March 2017

Deer here

This morning, I saw a Roe deer (Capreolus capreolus, corzo in Spanish, cabirol in Catalan)

Picture from Wikimedia Commons

It was running down the track near the Croft. The dogs, Islay and Biscuit, had put it up, but it easily outpaced them with its beautiful elastic stride on delicate legs.

The Roes were introduced in the Montnegre Natural Park by the hunting clubs there, in 1993. Ten individuals, captured in Landes de Gascunya (in Occitania, South West France) were released, five males and five females, all equipped with radio collars. The objective was to improve game hunting in the area (no, I don't approve of that objective...)

Between us and Montnegre is a motorway, a main road and two railway lines - one normal and one high-speed. These barriers have slowed down the spread of the deer but we've had partial sightings over the last year or so here at the Croft. Today's was the first sighting in full daylight, so great to be able to confirm the species.

Deer, here, make us a little bit wilder.


No comments: