Keeping watch on the Deer

 

Apples and pears chopped and bagged ready for feeding time, on arrival in the field i noticed the mum and young waiting close to where i had left there food yesterday, on inspection everything had gone including broccoli and stems, the deer were not at all nervous and looked to be very content, so i dropped more food and left them while i went in search of woodland golf balls, in just over 2 hours in woodland hacking down thorn bushes and endless prickles, i managed 72 very good golf balls.

A majority of these were brought out of woodlands by my golf ball dog Tilly-Miss who just seems to have a great sense of liking Titleist Pro V Balls, we had loads of that brand ball today, and as you can see from the pictures tilly is back home having a cuddle from my wife after we had gone for a long time.

I  managed some pictures of the deer waiting patiently for food, well i hope that is the reason why

This is mum and Thomas

What a beauty

But not as beautiful as this little lady

Who is now flat out on my settee sleeping and dreaming

And finally Golf Balls if anyone needs any ?

Deer back in woodlands, after weeks away.

Up and out early today in the hopeful search of the deer that had lived all last year in the woodland fields, over the last week i had been lucky enough to catch a glimpse of two new stragglers that had been wondering around the field, these two were very nervous as soon as you caught sight of them from a distance and were gone as quick as lightening, giving me the proof i needed that they were not linked to the family that had lived throughout the previous year quite happily with myself and tilly-miss.

The morning started well as can be expected, in to the woods and i am looking for tell tale signs of where the deer had been laying, hoof marks, and any sign of poo !

On walking through the path my first sighting was the dad Thomas as i have named him, a wonderful creature that has been friendly for a couple of years, remember i saw Thomas born in the woods and left in the undergrowth while mother rested, and so my friendship began.

Sadly the pictures are not that great as i was caught out and couldn’t focus properly, as time was against me should they decide to bolt, but i managed the best i could.

I was delighted to see them all back safe and started calling them, mum started walking towards me followed by the other three, i knew then it was time to head back home to get apples and pears, as they adore either and they wolf them down very quickly.

It is evident that they remember me and tilly and when we returned later with dinner for them they had there eyes firmly fixed on us and they were watching as the bag was shaken, they knew feeding time was close.

Open the picture for better view !

Tomorrow will be more apples and hopefully a few dozen golf balls, just like today !

Wild Deer Stampede The Woodlands.

I was shocked to see so much ground reduced to divots on the walk i take each day, it looks as thou there has been a mammoth orgy staged during the hour’s of darkness on just one stretch of our long walk

As i walked i took the time to count the droppings or poo and was surprised to end my count at 27 heaps, what has been going on in the hour’s of darkness? is it time for me to get the thick winter thermals on and my night lamp that would light the ground area far better than Wembley stadium? I am going to take my chances one of these nights in the hope of just catching a glimpse of who is responsible and would i be lucky enough to spot the young one’s that seem to have vanished out of sight.

Would this little lot make good manure for the tomatoes i wonder? would you believe that much is possible from a couple roaming, each pile was varying in size and hoof marks had churned the normally flat ground in to a rugby pitch, i have never witnessed this before and i am convinced this was a orgy on a mass scale with a very tired stag or stags at the end of it all.

We walked around late this afternoon to keep a check on things and the area is quiet and no sign of a deer, but another pile of poo was laying in wait very close to where my 2 young rest often, but sadly on further inspection there hiding place was empty without any sign of a recent visitor, so i have to keep walking until i can find them, they are very close and laying low and it is i hope only a matter of time before i see them again.

I keep busy picking up the golf balls as tilly heads away to try and climb a tree hoping to get her paws on the squirrel, these golf balls just keep dropping and we keep finding them and taking them back to the yard to be washed and cleaned before we send them to destination anywhere, we have been sending them to Albania….Dublin..Latvia and Scotland and all over the country, here are a few

Every make of ball you can think of in them sacks.

Make your choice and buy with confidence, we do not sell any rubbish or damaged golf ball, we have walked golf courses and woodlands far to long and we know a good ball when we see one, we take care and wash the old fashioned way by hand, yes every ball passes through my hands and is inspected far better than Morse would ever do, but my hands and fingers do take a beating.

Right have to go as it is time to sort out dinner for Scraggy Fox, not sure what i will put out tonight but something warm will do him good on this cold night, i will do him chicken and potatoes and cabbage and this will be warmed through about 01:30 as he has started arriving at this time in the last week and i will wait up until he has arrived then i will go to bed, but not before i feed him, he is a huge beast of a dog fox and you could saddle him and he has been coming for a couple of years at various times, but he is arriving in the early hour’s more now so he is obviously doing his rounds….Until next time take care and thanks for your visit…!

Early morning walk in woodlands.

Got up early this morning despite the weather conditions in search of the wild deer, the fog had formed across the woodland and golf course making viewing quite hard from my eyes, obviously a much different case for tilly who as always finds a new lease of life as soon as she gets in the woods.

I was expecting the morning to be very cold and made sure i was well wrapped for my visit with a couple of good layers of clothing, but strange as it seems the morning was walk was lovely and i soon had regret for adding the extra layers of clothes.

I was as happy as could be walking and watching the red kite sitting in the tree hoping that from somewhere a mighty feast would arrive, but this time i had to watch as i had taken no food for them this time around.

If you look carefully at the third picture you will see the 2 red kite sitting perched high in the tree, they will not let you get to close, the other pictures are of the visibility that was on offer and tilly scanning the field in the hopeful event a rabbit or squirrel will provide a little entertainment before we head home.

Where else can you enjoy the peace and quiet away from it all, i can hear the traffic in the distance of people chasing fast and furious to get to work, putting up with the daily ritual and routine and then arriving late and having to do it all again when it is time to go home.

Tilly loves her freedom and i wouldn’t change it for the world…!

Where are the Deer hiding.

I continue my search for the young deer and have been busy trying my best to find them without any success, they are leaving me lots of clues to where they have been as there foot prints and huge piles of deer poo are all around the place in the private grounds, which helps ease the worry that something has happened to them.

Yesterday whilst walking close to the barn i come across 3 heaps of deer poo a sign that they have probably been resting up in the barn area that i cleared a few months ago, i notice the hay has been tossed around and it is clear that they are taking shelter.

The long walk has been turned in to what seems like a rugby pitch with so many divots and feet marks from the deer that i think there has been an orgy during darkness, i have never ever seen so much poo on that stretch before and speaking to people about this it might be the theory that the climate has changed the breeding habits of some wildlife, i have been today watching red kites, and parakeets trying there best to mate and wonder if there is truth in the theory?

Golf Ball News

Had a gentleman call today and purchase 134 of my best selling ball the Pro V 1

I also have a few colour balls to clear along with lots more brand names

So far this week i have probably retrieved around 400 balls from the most unlikely places and would you believe whilst in the woods i actually found a dead fish? obviously been dropped from the jaws of a bird at a great height (imagine that landing on your head) but the fish was stinking and tilly wouldn’t go near it at all but was happy to start rolling in the leaves near to the fish, so most likely the hungry fox has been close.

Well i have just ordered my tea for the night and let me tell you i had some chilli chips along with curry and noodles, chilli chips are delicious !

Anyway thank you for taking the time to visit and i hope to add more in a few days time, have a lovely week and enjoy each day.

Another day in the woodlands.

Despite the miserable weather I always make time for Tilly to go to the woods and this morning was no exception.

The rain lashed down and the wind was blowing like crazy which is always a worry as the woodland is dense with very old rotting trees that have lost there strength in the last few years and are ready to topple at any given time, so keeping my pooch close at hand is very important to me, to be there in case anything was to happen.

Tilly has never been on a lead and wouldn’t know how to walk with one she has always had the run of the woods and fields and people we meet whilst walking are always grateful with polite comments on her behaviour, here she is in the woods collecting golf balls.

Trained from her first ever walk nearly 9 years now and can she find a golf ball in some unusual places….bless her !

Yesterday was a beautiful day and with the sun shining over and around us i took some pictures deep in the woodland.

Can you imagine trying to find a ball in this overgrown fern

Back to today and a couple of tilly on the golf course

And  another visitor who made me very happy…!

Deer watch and dog watch…what a week !

What a week of walking as usual and how nice to have company for tilly whilst i am left to search out golf balls whilst tilly has fun with her new best friend Riley.

Riley has become part of the walking gang and each day i shout him at the gate or if i am lucky riley is there waiting, but what is peculiar on Thursday /Friday at around 03:00am i was woken to the sound of barking and this was followed by even louder barking which got me out of my bed and to the window, there outside was riley on my garden and on the road the biggest dog fox yapping away and getting ready to no doubt fight, i shouted and they both scampered away in very different  directions and i went back to my bed. I could not believe riley had walked to my home from his home which has to be navigated on a very busy dark road that has lots of fast night traffic and it is also a cut through to motorway and other hiding places for the local pond life that live in the outer areas, but he made it home safe and sound and joined us the next day.

Now then do you people know if these mushrooms are edible or are they poison? we have lots growing in the woods and the fields and they look lovely and make me think of a couple of slices of bacon and a couple of eggs, but very weary to poison myself at this moment in time

Whilst walking through the leaves on the other side of the course i thought i would move some leaf mould from a small area and see what was there? goodness me i could believe that a near total of 40 balls were laid under the pile, how long had they been there? they were not really cold either, so i rescued them and got them home for a sort out

which resulted in some very good pro v balls and a nice Ryder Cup ball

What a week chasing round after the deer, they are running me mad, but could not imagine a day without them as the young get bigger and bolder and mum is also becoming a mischief chasing to one side of the fields to the other, but i caught her on the road this morning and she played me hell as i tried to coax her back in to the field.

Up and down the road mum was jumping road to hedge then back, i had to stop two cars and warn them, then she comes trotting towards me and stands still and tilly-miss arrives and you then think who is going to chase who? but it was nothing to worry about and it passed peaceful thank goodness

I could spend forever watching them they are all so pretty

I hope you enjoy my pictures and my love of wildlife as much as i do, i will add more as and when something of interest catches my eye, until then stay safe and enjoy the woodlands and walkways wherever you are.

London?….Woods….and a new friend for Tilly.

I could never imagine having to live in London despite the fact that i couldn’t afford to rent a cardboard box on one of the less than swanky streets that seem to be paved with not gold but some very shady asylum seekers watching your every move and ready to pick your pocket at the first opportunity.

I was recently in town for the Radio 2 festival in the park doing some work for one of the groups playing and getting on and of the site was bombarded with you cannot come in this entrance and so on, but i get in and do what i need to do at a very early time in the morning as daylight is breaking, as i drove in the park i was confronted by lots of people like me who should be in there beds but they were there earning a few pound as litter pickers.

Deciding to take a walk away from the park to find a bar in the back street i find an old pub after walking through a posse of police with machine guns who unknown to me are guarding an ex prime minister (say no more) who lives a few doors away? anyway the most expensive beer i have ever brought at £4:20 for a glass of the amber nectar…i wish i had gone to the weather-spoon pub instead, as i walked round looking at this and that which caught my eye i couldn’t believe hotel rooms for a single £95 and a double £150 my goodness me who can afford that? the mind boggles

I was amazed at how the likes of Kentucky and McDonalds was a magnet to foreigners begging and crowding in to the places to keep warm and to prey on easy targets, ladies camped outside begging on the floor and how many coloured faces out weighed a white face it was anything but a pleasure to get away from that horrible place and to get back home to the fresh fields with the mist rising

and with the knowledge of knowing the only coloured thing i would see is a Deer or maybe the young as well.

Tilly has a new friend in the woods you might guess another like her but a randy male who goes by the name of Riley but i call him hum per as he is only a young one but as randy as hell, but he wont get his way with tilly no matter how many kisses he gives to her.

It has all been happening in the woods.

My apologies for not updating the pages for a while, I have been to my computer many times with the intention of adding new updates only to be called away for something else.

Anyway….we are talking golf balls….we are talking progress of the young deer…..and we are talking about the low life scum that think it is acceptable to break in to peoples property, and to round it of we have to also deal with someone shooting young foxes and leaving them on view very close to the golf course.

Nothing infuriates me  more than people killing wildlife just for the sake of it, the woodland close to me has been my trusted hunting ground since a child, i know the woodland inside out, i know the favourite places for the deer and the badgers and the foxes that creep quietly throughout the day and night in search of food, they are always a pleasure to watch and it can be amazing if you get close up, but we have a problem at present with someone who thinks it is fun to blow away our delightful foxes for no reason at all, this idiot also has no respect for people as he is firing in to the golf course which is yards away from where i witnessed two baby cubs blasted and left on view, the pictures are to graphic to put online and i was so angry to think why has he done this?

I have made online attempts to get the police wildlife inspector to visit me and look for himself, but sadly nothing, so i have been stopping in the woods until near dark in the hope of confronting the person responsible, my view is he will no doubt be looking to cull the young deer before long.

The family of 3 are doing fantastic but they are wearing me out as i look daily for them, i end up doing the fields and there hiding places just to know they are safe and by that time i am rather tired and in need of substance, still nervous of me is the young and they are away like lightening from one corner in the field to the other, but i realised they are not that switched on when they bounded away i then went round the opposite way and they were not expecting that, we walked straight in to each other and it was quite a shock for them.

Tonight i spent time coaxing them round the entire perimeter fence by calling them, it was the first real time they never bolted so lets hope that this could be the start of us getting to know each other better as one would say and with more calling they will understand i am here to not harm them….they are all so beautiful.

Golf Ball Crazy….it has been non stop collecting and selling, people turning up at the door, orders from film studios and more people arriving tomorrow, then i have a meeting with a few souvenir outlets in Windsor who will hopefully take an interest for our ball in a pot which features the star of the show tilly-miss in her glory in the woods we have a variety of poses that will hopefully capture the imagination of the many visitors who visit Windsor.

Thieves and Burglars i have no time for, i believe in a form of punishment such as a birching or flogging with salt rubbed in to the wound afterwards to let them know it is not the way to lead your life, it is not the way to feed your drug habit or is it the way for you to go to a pub and sell someone else’s property for the price of a drink.

This morning we walked through the grounds of the big house and i noticed a bike laying in the grass, strange i thought and carried on walking then i find a large padlock that had been cut in half strewn in the grass, then i find the shed door open which i thought was unusual as this hardly ever opens, the next thing this spotty faced man comes walking out and see’s me and he is holding items and he is on his toes sadly to quick for me, but he left his bike behind and i snapped a few pictures and they are available for the police when they arrive, hopefully someone will recognise the bike and that might just lead to the scumbag responsible.

Let me see what pictures i have to end tonight

Dam i have them on my phone….

Back to the woods.

It was so lovely to be back home with my wife and my best friend tilly, the welcome was amazing from tilly and the pooch has not left my side since walking through the door.

After a good nights sleep and endless cups of tea,we headed out in the sun to the woods with one purpose and that was to check on the young deer, hoping they were still in and around the woodland, it was only a few minutes before i caught my first glimpse of the young that were at full speed at the top of the field, the pace and speed is very frightening and they are still unsure of my presence but given time and patience they will get used to me.

Quite happy in the knowledge that the young deer were ok we soon started to collect the golf balls and it was not long before my arms were aching through the sheer weight of our findings.

On the right of the pictures are some lovely Titleist Pro V Balls that will no doubt end up in our vending machines, they have to be great value at £1 compared to golf outlets charging anything up to £4 per ball, once i get them in the wash those Pro V Balls will look as good as new.

The top field was not as good as i thought things would be, we were lucky to have counted double figures which is strange? also the main field again hardly returned anything exceptional, so i put this down to either golfers running low on money? on holiday? or we have someone helping themselves to our stock? usually after a 2 week absence the field would return anything from 500 balls, so something has to be done and maybe it is time to turn on the electric fences ?

Here are some logo balls we found yesterday, there were quite a few and i have more to add.

I done my good deed yesterday when i found an injured pheasant with a bad leg, the poor bird was first seen by tilly and the pheasant was wedged in thorns against a wired fence, so in i go and pick him up then let him down on grass and he managed 4 or 5 steps then collapsed so in the pouring rain i walk him to an animal sanctuary for them to check him out, hopefully everything is good and he makes a full recovery, when we walked back home and walked through the door we were soaked to the skin and my coat was still soaked this morning, i woke with a stinking cold and more aches and pains that i can think about….ooh happy days…..