Still not exchanged, despite our solicitors having the money and the signed contracts etc. Apparently the vendor's signed contracts got "lost in the post" (Grrrrrrrrrr) so have now been emailed a new set and fingers crossed it all happens next week.
 |
| Fallow Deer feeding at dusk |
Killed time with a mooch round the charity shops this morning and bagged a good haul of books about wildlife in the woods and in particular Sussex woodland. So after a few hours gardening and some food I settled down to read through one of them, brilliant. All about decoding the signs of wildlife and identifying tracks etc. so by 7pm I was back in my wellies and on my way to Rais with my binoculars. Fantastically warm and sunny today, so the sun was still an hour from setting and I was able to get into a good comfy position on the banks of the clearing. Saw two different types of deer, and although they were a long way off, they allowed me to watch them eating before heading up into the wood on the Eastern side - the photo is a long way off, but good enough to see the tail pattern for ID purposes. I think this is a fallow despite not having any spots.
 |
| Dryopteris carthusiana - Narrow Buckler Fern |
When the deer had gone I saw a mammal of some kind run across the bank in front of me, but no clue what it was. About the size of a bank vole, but quite dark in colour. I stayed for a bit but it didn't reappear so I set off following the well trodden deer tracks to get some better pictures of the ferns I saw last visit. Turns out there are a whole heap in the wood and with my new found knowledge of Pteridophyta, I knew I needed better photos to ID them properly. (I do hope I have got them right now - although some fern geek is bound to correct me if I haven't). It was getting quite dark in the wood as it approached 830pm so I headed back to the car before realising I no longer had my mobile on me - D'oh. So I retraced my steps back to the spot I had been sitting watching the deer in the clearing and thankfully it was there on the moss - a blessing really as I then heard my first Tawny owl doing a crystal clear call across the wayleave. Perfect. Am going to need to start taking the vitamin B12 again though, because the flying, biting insects were swarming in clouds around my head - so worth it though. Roll on completion day.
 |
| Dryopteris affinis - Scaly Male Fern |
