The surprise in the title came later in the day, but the pond had its own surprise this morning: there were more than 50 greylag geese gracing the surface. The light was appalling so I’ve very few shots of them (and they were never all in frame together), but it was lovely to see so many in one place. Usually there are around a dozen, but these mini-invasions happen every now and then.

Yes, I went all arty and tried for a motion-blur shot of them. 😉

The weather had improved by lunchtime. Still overcast, but the brighter weather that is bringing with it a drop in temperature was beginning to penetrate the south. I headed over to local farmland where there are plenty of grazing sheep at this time of year.

I was pleased with the shots I was getting, but some distant movement caused me to abandon the nearby sheep and look across the field.

There were actually three roe deer out in the field, but they kept far enough apart to avoid the group shot. Two of them quickly retreated, but one remained in long-lens distance while it sought out good forage.

After several minutes it retreated to the fence line.

It searched up and down for a few moments, pausing to look over the fence, but then found its escape route. Up and over!

On other fronts, the good news is that the badger cull has been abandoned for now. It will stop tomorrow at midday. It was due to continue for another three weeks, but the abject failure of the policy has resulted in it being called off for this year.

This – at the moment – is only a temporary reprieve. The trial (which is what it was meant to be) has failed to hit every single target it was set, both in numbers of badgers shot (they fell well short), for method of shooting (free shooting was an abject failure because badgers don’t stand still), and length of time and cost (the former overran significantly, which means the cost must have done the same).

The next stage in this sorry saga will be the publication (or not) of the independent report on how humane and effective the trial method was, not that the Minister will take any notice of scientific evidence. Then the arguments will start all over again as the government tries to press forward with this absurd and wholly irrational cull. Meanwhile Wales presses ahead with a badger vaccination programme. We really should be doing the same.

But from tomorrow, and for a while, our badgers will hopefully have a quieter (and successful) breeding season.

Camera note: all photos 9apart from the badger) taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens. The badger was photographed with the EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM lens.