Another dry morning (another showery afternoon). I’m wandering through the fields, mostly between the Bridgnorth road and the river. There’s no-one else about – but what about those three there, by the edge of the wood? We often see fallow deer in these parts, but they don’t usually have this dark colouring. I think they’re the ‘melanistic’ variety, described as black or chocolate coloured, but I’m not sure – never seen any like these before. They look up – they’ve seen me – but I don’t seem to be posing a threat, and for a minute or two they carry on nibbling at the undergrowth. Then a pheasant suddenly bursts noisily from the wood, spooking them, and they’re off!

Just beyond the deer, the path was completely blocked by a fallen tree (hawthorn – I’m not going to try and push through that!) – had to take a field’s edge detour.

View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=368920&Y=298730&A=Y&Z=120