Well, the 'new girl' needed to be introduced to some classic XC trails so a picnic ride was the order of the day.

What a day it was as I rode silently through the countryside – out jumped some roe deer, followed 200 metres later by a small herd of fallow deer. But, hey, were my eyes deceiving me? Nope, it was a familiar hind whom I had last seen some 3 years previously. Cream coloured so she naturally stood out from the rather common grey-coloured hinds. Whoo and hoo indeed 8)

There followed more sightings of deer plus some fabulous displays from red kites, showing off their gorgeous colouring 🙂

What a terrific day … and apologies if I have bored you 😳

No pics, I'm afraid, but here's a couple of where I had my picnic lunch.

(a very mellow C_G)

If you look carefully, you can see the girlie bike:

Bike + wildlife + nice birds = damn goood day.

Where's that ?

Cheers sharki! It was amazing considering the weather was rather dull. We may not have red deer but there's plenty of others!

Nice one!

On my rides home this week I've seen the same deer groups twice on separate days. One group of three and another of two – saw both groups on two consecutive days, wierd.

keyses2 – Hampshire but I won't say where 😉

allthepies – most deer are territorial, the exception being muntjac who roam freely. Group of 3 could have been a roe doe with two youngsters.

Fallows are lovely aren't they…shame we don't have any on the hills.

Last week I saw a herd of some 8 fallow including 4 bucks with amazing antlers 😀

They are not the most attractive deer but the cream coloured one today was exceptional. Definitely not albino.

Edit: loads of fallow in Hampshire/Chilterns/Wiltshire/Berkshire.

ah, bit cheeky was it 😉

Definitely not cheeky! I have been inside the building, which definitely was cheeky 😳

Amazing isn't it that in this crowded little island we still have great big wild animals? Up here in East Lothian the roe deer are all over the place and I see them in small groups in fields on most long rides.
The other evening I came down a familiar rural road with a ford at the bottom – always sketchy due to run-off gravel spread down the road so not full-speed – and as I got to the ford a deer sprang up and ran across my path missing me by about 1 metre. Eek! We were both spooked!

Cheers, al.

>Group of 3 could have been a roe doe with two youngsters.

Spot on I think. And this on the Blackwater Valley Path, a thin veneer of nature sandwiched between urban intrusion.

Alan – roe are very highly strung!

pies – oooh, Blackwater Valley eh? Used to see a kingfisher regularly alongside the River Blackwater.

All my rides involve looking out for the bird and wildlife. You see so much when you can pootle along at your own pace and keep a look out.

Last week I got really close to a kingfisher. Also back in October we had salmon jumping up our local weir. It was so exciting.

Lots of foxes, badgers, owls and other things that go 'bump' in the night.

i had a bump in the night yesterday.

Driving back over the hills a sheep stepped out in front of me(i was driving not the sheep) i heard the bang, so stopped off and went back to check it was dead…Nope! just stood there dazed…My car? ooops indicator glass borked…silly sheep!

On a night ride last week followed a badger down a trail for 70m or so. Very cool. Bit smelly though – I shouted after him to get some rightguard but I don't think he heard me. Lots of those small ugly dog like deer too – muntjac? See loads since I got helmet mounted lights…

Saw a Tawny Owl perched close up in the trees at Gisburn today, right by the side of the trail and with a mouse in it's beak. Lovely.

Bunnyhop – it's the surprise element that's so wonderful. Salmon sounds incredible – presumably there's a "No Fishing" sign in place 😉

sharki – blimey, what a fright you must have had 😯

Fopster – that'll be the muntjac. They do bark like yappy dogs too but close up, they are quite interesting. Check out those tusks!

So pray tell what is the latest toy then CG

Hello saladdodger! Latest toy? Bikey? A Soul.

To me as a country boy, I've always rode a bike as a way of being out immersed in the countryside far more than I've ever ridden it for the "trails" – its the sights sounds and smells that make it, and watching the seasons, especially through deer, something I've spent my whole adult life studying.

You're probably right regards the group of three Roe being doe and two kids/yearlings. They're highly strung, but don't tend to spook far, sit down for ten minutes and they'll often be back out.

Technical and spotterish here, the Fallow doe with the light colouring would likely have been a "menil".

The six species of wild deer in the UK are in my opinion on of the most fascinating aspects of our great little island – although Roe are very much my favourite.

ps. Nice selection of capability brown landscaping and greek revival architecture there C_G 😉 – If you ever fancy a lesson in squeaking in Muntjac then give me a shout 😀

Zulu – another deer stalker then? Agree about roe – they are so beautiful and I've been so privileged to see them 8)

Yes, this fallow doe I spotted a few years back when I was walking on my own. I hid behind some trees and watched the herd, of around 20, for some considerable time through my binoculars. It was so fortunate to see her again today.

Well spotted on landscaping and neo-classical architecture – you obviously know where this is! Please don't broadcast it though!

Yeah good on ya

Bootiful them there souls, I wanted one to keep my Simple company but funds only allowed a 456 😥

See you later on in the year

You going to oldfart's Exmoor Easter Parade then? 456 is good, pretty indestructible. Just love a steel hardtail 8)

C_G –

"another deer stalker then"….

erm, you could say that 😈

Studied deer management, trained as a wildlife ranger for the FC, the hands of fate dealt different cards though…

Ahha! Cinnamon_girl.. I know exactly where you were. Promise I won't tell keyses2.
I was once out nearish there in the evening. I surprised a whole bunch (insert collective noun here) of roe deer. They scampered along in the field next to me for a bit, and then all leaped the path I was on in front of me. I guess I put the fear of the bearded singlespeeder into them.

Wildlife spotting is one of the best things about mountain biking.
I commute one way in the afternoon and the other way in the early hours of the morning, through the Wyre Forest, along the Severn, through a nature reserve, then along a canal.
I regularly see Fallow Deer. There's a white one round here too, although I haven't seen it for a while. I always thought it was albino, but I've since learned there is a recessive gene and it is not all that uncommon to get one or two white deer in a herd.
I see lots of badgers and foxes, but a recent highlight was following a heron along the canal. As I approached, it took off and flew ahead, then landed about 200m further along. As I approached again, it flew on again. This repeated for about 2km until it finally veered off to the side.

Then there was the fox in the Wyre Forest with a squirrell in it's mouth.
So pleased with itself for having caught it's dinner, it was trotting along a bit of single track for about 50m without realising I was following only about 5m behind.