A muntjac visits to graze on our patio

I sat at our dining table eating a snack lunch, listening to a depressing podcast about US politics, when I glanced through the patio doors. There was a movement on the level of the patio which is ten feet lower than the house, as we our garden slopes steeply down the hillside. It took a moment to differentiate the brown coat of a deer from the background of vegetation and shrubs. My first thought was it would be gone rapidly so I switched on my phone’s camera and tried to frame a shot. From where I was sitting there wasn’t a clear view. 

I realised my camera was in my study on the floor directly above me, so I went to fetch it as quickly as possible without making sudden movements which might disturb the deer. By the time I had the camera ready the deer, which I now realised was a muntjac, had moved across the patio and found seed husks under the sunflower feeder. I couldn’t see it clearly because of the patio table but when it moved away again it suddenly looked directly up towards the window I was looking from.

By now I’d worked out it was not scared and was just browsing for food. It walked back across the patio towards the door into the cabin which is hidden from sight here. Then it started to enjoy some of the vegetation in the perennial potted plants, and it seemed to be looking at me out of the corner of its eyes, but without being frightened away. Soon after it walked down the steps to the lower garden and started browsing again, before eventually leaving out through the back of the garden, which leads straight onto the wooded hillside, part of the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, an AONB. I've added a couple of shots of the muntjac as 'Extras'.

All in all I had about fifteen minutes watching another wild animal sharing our space. Other visitors include foxes as well as badgers, although the latter only appear in the evenings, sometimes accompanied by the wonderful hooting of a pair of tawny owls which live close by. The bats in summer sometimes become visible at the end of the twilight just before darkness envelops.