More plants and fruit had disappeared from the garden. We charged into Sainsbury's for another consignment of their own brand beer which is cheap and not very alcoholic ( but the slugs like it).

A day or two later I was down stairs making the morning cuppa and looking out of the window when I saw resting in the grass (which needs mowing) near to the table and chairs, a deer, laying down chewing the cud and as peaceful as you please. So would you be after a meal of soft fruit and young plants for breakfast. The Deer, a buck with a good set of antlers has been causing mayhem in the garden, bedding plants have been pulled up, a new Lilac Bush is decimated, and the Smoke Bush, which had just come into flower for the first time, have all been eaten! not to mention the cluster roses being nibbled and the gooseberries having a good trim. Being a bit full he decided to have a rest and we got some good photos of him in the corner of the garden next to the table and some seats.

I mowed our field the other day and was surprised not to find any rabbits. I wondered if the disease Mixamatosis had come back again. My friend who has a field at the top of Cutmill common said he had many rabbits and his field is not ½ mile away.

Large tractors with trailers have been going along our road with huge black bags of silage. Cooked grass, as my great friend Mr Moss used to call it. In those days a trench some four feet deep, twenty feet across and fifty long would be dug and filled with green grass straight from the field. It would be rolled, usually by driving the tractor back and forwards over it, eventually covered with a thick layer of earth and then left. Being green and succulent the grass fermented and heated up, going brown in colour. In the winter the pit was opened up and large amounts would be cut each day with a large knife, the blade being some two feet long by six inches, and taken to the cattle. You always knew when the silage pit had been opened because of the smell in our lane. Some people complained of the smell as it was strong but I found it one of those smells that was of the countryside, and not unpleasant. This was a labour intensive way of doing things and nowadays it is cut and fastened in the huge black bags being ferried along the lane. The silage is just as good I understand; whether the cows think so I don't know.

A very loud continuous chirping caught my attention, imagine the surprise when a round black fluffy chick was found on the front lawn. It had very long legs and large black feet, not webbed, and a yellow beak with a red tip.. I recognised it as a moorhen chick but how it had got there was a mystery.. The nearest pond to us is directly opposite on the land that is part of Fulbrook House. The gardens at the top of the hill slope to the bottom which is flat and has a pond behind a high fence and a woodland area. I scooped the chick up and cupped it in my hands it felt secure and stopped cheeping. The only possible thing to do was to put it back over the fence and hope that its parents found it before any predators.. I felt so sorry for the tiny thing as I put it through the fence but I did hear moor hens calling, but it was a very slim chance that the chick made it.

Summer Butterflies.
Small skippers have been seen flitting through the flowers, very small and fast. A lovely bright orange creature, they only live for about three weeks and are seen early July. Meadow Brown; the female, which is darker than the male has false eyes on the wings. They come into the garden from the meadows and are the most common butterfly. Ringlet is dark brown in colour and also lives in the meadows. The caterpillars eat grass. Cabbage White; several of these have been seen in our garden but generally there are not so many as usual perhaps due to the cold snap in May.