Chinese water deer

It was the coldest night so far this winter, going down to -10C at Wittering. Pete had to go to a meeting at Ramsey Heights, and it was still only -6.5C when we set off at 9.45am.

I had the luxury of a walk around Woodwalton Fen National Nature Reserve on my own, as dogs aren't allowed on the reserve. This fragment of undrained fen is always beautiful, but today the heavy hoar frost had transformed it into a magical fairytale land. The snow had frozen hard and crunched underfoot, and the reeds rattled when the breeze blew, because they were encased in ice.

The prospect of icy roads seemed to have put off most other people and I almost had the fen to myself. Despite the cold there was plenty of wildlife - flocks of fieldfares and redwings on the hawthorn berries, assorted tits (including a marsh/willow tit), wrens, flocks of redpolls feeding on the birch and alder, a buzzard, a Jack snipe flushed from a ditch and several water rail.

For a while I became disorientated, but managed to navigate back to an area I recognised using the sun. I walked along the outer edge of the reserve for a while, looking out over the dazzling silver fenland, until I came to another ride heading back in the direction I needed to go. I was just about to descend the steps down the bank when I saw a Chinese water deer grazing on the edge of the ride. I took some photos, but it was very distant.

However it seemed preoccupied and I was able to approach much more closely, managing to get a few shots on the way. I noticed it kept staring across the ride, and it was only when I was much closer, that I realised there was a second deer hidden behind the reeds. Eventually it moved off, disturbed by the other deer rather than me, and I started to stride out more quickly. However, all of a sudden it burst out of the reeds and stared straight at me, before leaping off into the fen. Magical!

The Chinese water deer is a small species intermediate between muntjac and roe deer. There are no antlers but large protruding tusks in bucks, which can be seen if this is viewed in large. The tusks are used as weapons during the rut and in defence against predators. The ears are large and rounded giving a "teddy bear" like appearance. It was first brought to London Zoo in 1873, but escaped into the wild from Whipsnade Zoo in 1929. It's mostly found in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk with a few scattered sightings elsewhere. Woodwalton Fen is a particular hotspot for it. In China it is classified as 'near threatened' and it is estimated that the UK now supports 10% of the world population.

It was amazing to have such a good view of the deer and just when I thought the morning couldn't get much better, I spotted a water rail foraging around in a frozen ditch. It too seemed remarkably unperturbed by my presence, and I managed to get several nice shots of it, one of which can be seen here.. What a morning!