Mystical roe deer of Calder Valley

European roe deer | Capreolus capreolus

Walking down the slope of our farm carrying my heavy wildlife lens looking for birds and finding none, I chance my luck in the meadows. A robin sings somewhere close by, the distant call of a jackdaw in the light mist. Either will do, I love them all. A gull glides too far away in the sky. When ahead of me, in the grass at the far end of the field a movement and, after almost four years of sharing this place with them, I know who it is, the family of roe deer that call this hill home. Having a rest in the grass, which is dry for once.

I’d never expected to become an expert on roe deer but I can feel it slowly happening to me. Knowledge through osmosis of living in proximity of one another. I always try to avoid calling them our roe deer, that instinct of ownership is a human trait I dislike that doesn’t fit our true wild way. Instead, the roe deer are one of the hill’s magical entities, dancing in and out of nature’s veil. Always present, existing with us and yet always at a distance a…