Big Frits and a Big Fritz...!
Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2010 6:07 pm
I stopped off at a little-visited South Wilts wood this morning on my way to work. SW Frits were plentiful in the extreme, and good numbers of valezina too, especially on the shaded side of the ride. Lots of pairs today too, I love watching the copulating males cary their lazy spouses around the woods behind them, stopping to nectar on bramble or thistle on route. I am not so certain that my better half would look so favourably on me if I began tucking into a plate of kidneys half way through; but it seems to work for Mr. and Mrs. SW Fritillary.
Later in the morning I bumped into two very respectable middle aged ladies who had been on a long walk, and we began chatting about the butterflies that were all around us. One of the pair seemed jittery, but I thought nothing of it. It was only after she was prompted by her friend a little later in the conversation that she proclaimed to have just seen a 'big cat'.
I enquired further, and the lady told me that an "very large, dark cat" had just crossed the ride in front of her, further up on the wooded hill side. She described it as large, dark, with a round tail as long as it's body; definately a cat, walked in a feline manner; and certainly not a dog. She was adamant about this last part. I began quizzing her about the sighting but she was having none of it, "don't try to tell me it was a deer, or a fox, or a badger, I have lived in the countryside for long enough to know what all those look like, and what I saw was a large cat".
We parted company. I was agog at the thought of a huge predatory feline stalking the woods and scrubby downland and must confess that I was bristling with every rustle and noise that came from the woodland around me. It was probably half an hour later that I was walking along a broad ride when I heard something hurtling at speed down one of the smaller rides that lead off to the side. It was a fallow deer, going like the clappers and bellowing like 'Brutus' from BBC's Autumn Watch. The animal came charging around the corner, almost knocked me off my feet, bellowing like Brian Blessed and was off through the woods. It was one spooked deer! and one spooked Felix...!
That was it for me; all of a sudden I decided that I was terribly late for work. Hasty exit stage left.
Felix.
Later in the morning I bumped into two very respectable middle aged ladies who had been on a long walk, and we began chatting about the butterflies that were all around us. One of the pair seemed jittery, but I thought nothing of it. It was only after she was prompted by her friend a little later in the conversation that she proclaimed to have just seen a 'big cat'.
I enquired further, and the lady told me that an "very large, dark cat" had just crossed the ride in front of her, further up on the wooded hill side. She described it as large, dark, with a round tail as long as it's body; definately a cat, walked in a feline manner; and certainly not a dog. She was adamant about this last part. I began quizzing her about the sighting but she was having none of it, "don't try to tell me it was a deer, or a fox, or a badger, I have lived in the countryside for long enough to know what all those look like, and what I saw was a large cat".
We parted company. I was agog at the thought of a huge predatory feline stalking the woods and scrubby downland and must confess that I was bristling with every rustle and noise that came from the woodland around me. It was probably half an hour later that I was walking along a broad ride when I heard something hurtling at speed down one of the smaller rides that lead off to the side. It was a fallow deer, going like the clappers and bellowing like 'Brutus' from BBC's Autumn Watch. The animal came charging around the corner, almost knocked me off my feet, bellowing like Brian Blessed and was off through the woods. It was one spooked deer! and one spooked Felix...!
That was it for me; all of a sudden I decided that I was terribly late for work. Hasty exit stage left.
Felix.
