Dimensions

Landscapes where birds are the only moving wildlife that you see have a dimension missing. It is nearly ten years since the deer first made themselves known on Blacka and the place has been immeasurably richer for their presence. They remind us that the other much smaller mammals are also present, less visible and even more intent on avoiding attention. Badgers, hares, moles, voles and weasels are all here. Wild mammals bring a place to life and warm our human spirits through their total independence from our concerns and our activities. That's not to downplay the birds, simply to remind us that they are only one element along with the invertebrates and others and on to the natural vegetation of which the trees are crucial for the value of the landscape. the largest of their kind as the deer are of theirs.

From teenage years on I've walked along many of Britain's most trodden footpaths, very occasionally seeing wild mammals but never deer until they arrived on Blacka. That's no surprise.  It's only in recent years that deer have started to regain a hold. Now of course some of those coming from those sections of country life that were responsible for the decline in wildlife are pushing for control, and we know what control means.

This morning was better looking with a combination of sun and mist. Being Sunday it was also hit and miss. Mostly quiet but with a sudden unwelcome racket from a group of motor bikes. This startled a visiting mixed herd of deer who came running across the moor looking for security and hoping to join the regular hinds who were browsing on the other side of the hill.

Unintentionally we were standing in the middle as each group looked across to the other.

To see the hills full of life like this when previously there had been a relative impoverishment reminds us that only by bringing nature back and shackling management rather than the other way round can we achieve an experience of many dimensions.