Busy

By 9 a.m. this morning those looking for a quiet walk in a remote spot will have done no worse if they had chosen to go to John Lewis for some Christmas shopping. Every category was represented on Blacka. Those who had seen a promising weather forecast, those who were giving their dog a treat at the start to the weekend, frenetic bikers, gadget lovers with expensive cameras and binoculars looking for something to use them on, those arriving early for a fungi finding event and twitchers hoping to see the Great Grey Shrike; in addition, but first to arrive, the regulars including the one arriving in time for the sunrise. The shadowy group just visible at that time could have been any group of deer. Not having seen them for a week the first thought was that it might be the Baron and his party of followers, but it turned out to be four stags one of whom looked very like the Baron.
They made off slowly. The rutting behaviour of a fortnight ago now seems to have run its course. Forty minutes later looking down from the top of Thistle Hill we could see two men laden with hardware disturbing a larger group which dashed off at some speed across the hillside. Among these were a number of hinds.