As we waited for an Otter to show last week we encountered this little chap. Completely oblivious to us at the other side of the river he was slowly munching his way through sprouting bluebell leaves. Muntjac, although native to Asia have now spread widely through Britain after escaping from wildlife parks.
They are regulars in the garden here at Falcon Cottage and we even saw one a few years ago on one of our tours to Scotland, well beyond their reported range. They are set to be the UK’s most common deer. Given numbers of deer generally are said to be at their greatest ever within the UK (a claim to which I do not subscribe) undoubtedly Muntjac will be swept up within the proposed recommended deer cull. It would be a shame to loose such a charming little animal but it has to be said they do a great deal of damage to the understory of woodlands that would otherwise support breeding Warblers, Nightingales and the like.
Letter From Norfolk 