St Ives, 14 May 2020

I pulled the kitchen curtain at 5.40 am to catch a glimpse of a dumpy, chestnut brown shape running along the Meadow path alongside the river from the left. By the time it was opposite the reed bed on Holt Island Nature Reserve I had realised what it was. The Muntjac deer slipped into the river by one of the fishing platforms without any hesitation and swum strongly across. It scrambled ashore to disappear into the reeds and I watched the waving reed tops mark its passage inland as it pushed its way through. I hoped the Reed and Sedge Warblers nests were not too disturbed!

Photogaph by Nigel Sprowell (different occasion)

We have always had a small family of these deer on the reserve. It looks like we now might have a new arrival. Their fondness for fresh green shoots does not endear them to gardeners of riverside properties but on the island they can munch away to their heart’s content. Visitors and especially children are thrilled by the odd sighting, usually in the evening, and they do look rather charming. Our damp riverside habitats suit them well and I understand they have spread through East Anglia from a few escapes at Woburn Abbey.

Check out Holt Island Nature Reserve at www.holtisland.org

Ian Jackson