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Our house, located in the
southwest area of Falkirk (Scotland) on the Lochgreen Road, has an
unrestricted view to the south over Standalane farm fields.
In the winter of
1998-1999 my wife, who had been enjoying the view from an upstairs
window, called to say that among the sheep there was a small animal,
which she did not think was a goat.
I went upstairs and was
amazed to see a young deer fawn walking along with the sheep.
Upon making enquiries
with the farmer Mr MacKenzie Hill, I was advised that the mother deer
had jumped the fence into a western field, and had given birth to the
fawn amongst gorse bushes. The baby could not jump the fence so the
mother made regular visits to look after and feed the little one.
It was not long before
the wee soul was able to accompany the sheep and happy to graze with
them.
Some time later I thought
I must try and obtain a picture. Early in February 1999 I crossed over
Lochgreen Road and, carefully looking over the hedge, managed to take a
photo (above) of the little fawn. He is not ‘fenced in’ and can move
freely into the main field. Another picture was taken at a later date:
can you spot the fawn in this photo (below)?
Although I often see roe
deer in the general area, it was nice that quite a few people stopped to
look at the unusual scene in the field.
As the weeks rolled on
the little one was always close to the sheep and this made me wonder if
it thought it was a sheer or a deep, hence the title of this article.
In early spring 1999 I
managed to get a photo (below) over the hedge on Lochgreen Road opposite
our house. By this time the little one was growing fast and, suddenly
realising his ‘friends’ had wandered away, was looking for them.
Just after this picture was taken it ran off to the sheep that were just
over the skyline on the right, and then contentedly continued grazing
along side them.
The sheep were due to be
removed from the farm by the end of March 1999 and this gave concern to
the farmer Mr Hill that the deer would be all alone. No parents and
no sheep friends. As it had been paying visits to the barn where it was
able to have straw for food, this gave the opportunity for the barn door
to be closed and thus trap the wee thing inside.
When the Mr Hill went
into the barn to catch the deer its anxious and distressed wailing gave
concern until a sack was placed over its head that seemed to calm it
down. This type of stress can cause a fatal heart attack to wild
animals; therefore it was fortunate that the wee one survived.
It was carefully loaded
into a vehicle and taken by Mr Hill to a Country Park, which is about
ten miles southeast of Falkirk. With its head still in a sack the deer
was quite quiet during the journey. It joined a small herd of wild deer
and appears to have been accepted into their fold. By now it would be
impossible to identify the little one that had no obvious personal
markings.
When speaking to Mr Hill’s
son this New Year (whose house and garden are on the farm land) he
mentioned that one Christmas there were two roe deer in his garden.
Taking his young children
to the window in order that they could see the deer without disturbing
them one of the children said, "Santa must have left them
behind". Nice! |
