A few days ago we were Marshalling at a charity horse ride, manning a checkpoint in the wilds surrounding Ewhurst. It was a leisurely day as the riders only arrived every five minutes or so - when we heard a cuckoo. This early in the year is unusual so the car window was wound down and sure enough he was cuck-ing and oo-ing like mad on this day, the 10^th April. My late father in law was a postman and he always announced the arrival of the cuckoo a good fortnight before anyone else to the annoyance of my wife. This was usually because postmen get out early on their rounds. 

On the few warm days we had at the end of March I noticed something going on in the field. All that could be seen was a mass of moving feathers and a cloud of dust, which, once it had finished turned out to be a pheasant treating itself to a dust bath. It had found a suitably dry molehill in the field and put it to good use. I had only seen chicken do it before. Himself the pheasant spent a while fluffing his feathers out and standing as though he owned the world. He looked splendid with the sun shining and glinting off the golden sheen of his feathers. His four wives went on eating.

Muntjac
We were returning from seeing friends in the evening and in the car headlights I could see three pairs of eyes by the side of the road. The first thought was of foxes, rabbits or cats, which is not unusual, but upon getting closer the headlights revealed three deer, Mum, Dad and a little one. The fawn was incredibly small, and no more than a few days old. It looked much like a wild piglet and could easily have been mistaken for one if I hadn't seen its mother. With a spotted coat, it was made for camouflage. Another car had drawn up by this time, Ma and Pa discretely disappeared through the fence at the side of the road while the piglet stood in the middle of the road and then walked away from the place it had last seen its parents, squeaking and not knowing what to do. Its plight was made urgent as another car came up the hill towards it. I had backed away from the scene as the little animal was getting quite distressed by this time. The driver of the other car and his daughter got out and so did Di, between them they managed to gently shoo it back into the verge and through the fence where it's parents were last seen, it then started calling again. Muntjac are the smallest of the deer family to be found in Great Britain though not originally native (they escaped from a Park) they are wide spread and numerous but rarely seen because they are the size of a pigmy goat. Unlike Roe Deer they keep in family groups

They can hide in the undergrowth. I have seen them squeezing through a five barred gate to cross the road, and grazing at the bottom of the field.

Back in the Garden,
The dawn chorus is in full swing and sounds tremendous. Just to get up at 5 am and listen. We put mums hair clippings in a special container and three days later it had all gone so some bird is using it for nesting.

Butterflies seen this month April
Brimstone Yellow; Cabbage White; Orange tip, the male has the orange tips, the female is white with black tips.

A Peacock was rescued from the shed where it had over wintered and a very tatty Comma which had also over wintered was looking for a mate.