An irresistible vandal

We thought it was insects, at least for the first two years. We kept finding the bark stripped from saplings and the fresh growth and buds nipped from the roses and other shrubs. But it was never enough damage to warrant serious countermeasures.

Then Trish did a little more research and roe deer became our prime suspect. And suddenly it all made sense.

We'd noticed that the areas of grass we allow to grow long under some of the mature trees had been flattened in places. We'd put this down to summer rainstorms and the antics of our dog, Zola. We'd also noticed trails in the grass coming under the barbed-wire fence. That'll be Scott, the neighbour's dog, we thought. We'd even seen some small shrubs flattened and bent. The dogs playing, we concluded.

To test the deer theory, I tried setting up a webcam in the office window, but its resolution was too low. Then, just a few days after we'd started suspecting deer damage, there he was.

I spotted him from the kitchen window in the dusk light. We scurried upstairs to the office and watched as he casually strolled the garden, nibbling a leaf here, a shrub there. I snapped a few pictures using a 300mm lens (equivalent to a 450mm on the digital camera) but he was at the far side of the garden, 100m away, and the light was now very low. So the pictures are a little blurry.

It's probably the same lone buck that has been causing the damage for the past three years. They rub against nice, springy saplings to relieve the itching in their antlers.

He's killed only a couple of trees, and those were self-seeded cherries, so no great loss. And his grazing does only superficial damage to the shrubs. So we're happy to share the garden with him.