One of the things that is so striking about foxes is that they usually seem to know precisely where they are going and why. They possess a busy and purposeful air even when they are doing something as ridiculous as, say, walking off with a broken stick. But some of my other wild neighbours occasionally seem a little...lost



Early this morning, I rounded a corner on my usual trail to find a roe deer doe springing away from me parallel to the barbed wire fence that borders a local paddock. I'm no stranger to seeing mule deer or whitetails up close when I'm wandering around Canada, but these little roe deer are far more secretive and wary. The fawns that I photographed the other day were a good 500 feet away from me, so encountering an adult so close was something of a shock!



And she didn't know how to find her way out of the paddock. Not wanting to frighten her further, I stayed still by the fence, watching she made her way back and forth, looking for a gap in the barbed wire and finding none. Eventually she reached the far side of the paddock where the fence is much lower and disappeared into a hedgerow. I really don't like barbed wire - it can be dangerous for wildlife.
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The temperature this morning was fully 15 degrees lower than the day's forecasted high and any earlier hints of a thaw have faded. I like the cold, or pseudo-cold anyway; after all, for all the media's excitement, this isn't exactly Snag. But I like hiking in -9c and seeing all the Downs and the Weald draped with unrelenting hoar frost.



Even if the deer are getting lost, I know where I am going: outside! It's beautiful out there



Birds are very active, trying to gather another food to fuel themselves. The garden is attracting large numbers of yellowhammers, stock doves and blackbirds (up to eight at once!) Out by the local farm, large flocks of noisy goldfinches are feeding in the trees...



...in whatever way they see best!



As I was watching them, a rattling call alerted me to a mistle thrush.



And there's never a robin far away at this time of year.



But the biggest surprise of the morning was left to last - another animal looking rather lost, and one that I would never have imagined seeing when I headed out this morning. Or any morning, come to that. It's one of our shyest and most reclusive waders, albeit a wader that is found in woodland and is mostly nocturnal.



A woodcock!! I would never have seen it at all, but a flapping in the hedgerow suggested that something was trapped by the fence on the far side of the bushes. Its intent was probably to fly out of sight and vanish into another bush, but finding its path blocked, it flattened itself low, spreading its wings with their wonderfully cryptic markings.

I wasn't sure that it wasn't actually caught in the fence, but I backed off a little way and was pleased to see it get back to its feet and trot quickly down the hedgerow. A very cute little bird, and that's my first confirmed sighting of one in the North Downs. A new species for my local list!