This zoning-in is amazing (see my last post). I had a feel for it on the tracking course, but I never believed I would get so close to wildlife without even trying. Last week I found a fox trail and we watched 3 foxes mucking about in a local field. This week I went out for 3 nights to try and get closer. The first night, I followed the trail to a hole under a fence. I’m pretty sure the den wasn’t too far away from the hole, but obviously this was their entry point into the field that I was in. I followed the trail to a kill site, where typically there was the bitten end of crow or rook feathers. I found a sit spot about 20 meters away for the next night.

The following night, I checked the wind and went straight to the sit spot. After about 20 minutes of zoning in, I noticed some movement about 30 meters in front of me. It was a young male fox. Completely oblivious of me, he snuffled around and slowly, slowly came closer. He eventually came to within 20 meters, and then turned away and walked nonchalantly towards the hole in the fence. I tried the old fox call (sucking on the back of the hand). This drew a strange reaction. He turned around, looked in my direction and promptly sat down, looking straight at me. Obviously thinking I was some sort of amateur (which I am) he walked back towards the hole. I wasn’t going to let him get away with that so I followed, freezing whenever he stopped. A couple of times he turned around and looked at me. The last occasion must have been the last straw and he ran off toward the hole. It was only then I noticed the two other foxes pop up, seemingly from nowhere. They too ran towards the hole. That was the end of that.

The following night, I sat in the same spot, but there was no sign. A hare came pretty close but Reynard was nowhere to be seen.

On Saturday, I went to Outfield Woods. I hadn’t been there since the spring. A quick look around showed no sign of human intrusion since last time. The unmanaged woods were dark and what little undergrowth there was was dry and brittle. Before I went any further, I decided to pick a sit spot on the outskirts of the south side of the wood and zone in. After 30 minutes, I decided this probably wasn’t the best place as the wind was on my back, exposing my scent to the rest of the wood. I was just about to move on when I felt (yes, felt) something behind me. I slowly, very slowly turned my head and my peripheral vision picked up some movement behind me. I turned a little more. A Fallow doe slowly came into my vision followed by two, no three juveniles. Two looked more mature possibly from last year, but the third was definitely this year’s fawn. This seemed extremely similar to an experience that Steve, a fellow course participant, had had. He contacted me only a few days ago. I was quite envious of his experience, but here I was in a similar position.

I froze. I was now in an awkward position, half turned and straining to look over my left shoulder. My neck and shoulder muscles started to ache, but I knew if I moved my body, they would be off. They were no more than 15 meters away. I didn’t realise Fallows were quite so big. I could actually hear one of them snuffling or breathing loudly. Suddenly, the doe’s head shot up. I hadn’t moved (I’m sure I hadn’t moved). She looked directly at me and skitted sideways, but then stopped. I suddenly realised that I was looking directly at her. The predatory stare. This may have spooked her. I looked down and although she was still looking at me, she allowed the youngsters to browse on. I risked a couple of slow glances up. The doe was still looking but not moving and the fawns were still browsing. All of a sudden a huge bark came from her. I was quite shocked not only at the suddenness of it, but its depth and power. I felt the vibrations straight through my body. Instead of providing the reaction she probably hoped for, I remained still and calm. The whole wood seemed to freeze. And then it was all too much probably for both of us. I twitched, she darted, barked again and off they went into the field to the south of the wood. An amazing close encounter that had lasted a good five minutes.

A couple of hours later, I came across another doe (pictured). Certainly not as close as the previous encounter, but still closer than I normally get. At the time I was practicing walking amongst the brittle woodland floor with varying success.

The final encounter was with a much smaller creature. I was sitting quietly debating whether I should head back, when I saw a tiny shrew making his busy way from underneath one log to another. I haven’t seen a shrew for many, many years.

These are the closest experiences I’ve ever had with wildlife. I can’t decide whether it was all down to increased awareness, just plain good luck or a bit of both. I suppose time will tell.

I’ll look at some kit on Wednesday’s post. Thanks for the visit.

Pablo.