Plunge

This is where the water plunges down dramatically to Blacka Dyke after a heavy downpour. A long spell of dry weather reduces it to a mere trickle as it is today. Some would not try to cross the top when the torrents are flowing but show more bravery at quieter times.

The oak stem here growing near the fall has been chewed or scraped in recent weeks and I would normally be in no doubt this is the work of deer. Another of the annoyances of the presence of cattle is that it is harder to be sure of what is attributable to them and what to deer.
Before the cattle arrived it was easy to see the deer tracks through the bracken - they make their own and usually prefer them to man made paths; now the cattle do the opposite, preferring tracks ready made by man or deer. This means everything becomes a cattle track. It would take a better observer than I am to separate the effect of deer and cattle on the vegetation.