THE MOORHEN & THE ROE DEER: words about walking in Ridge Lane, Staithes on 20th April 2023...

 The Moorhen & The Roe Deer…

I had walked a couple of miles along Ridge Lane, 

Limbs aching, following a day of walking on beaches

And along promenades, at Runswick, Robin Hood’s Bay

And Saltburn-by-the-Sea on the North Yorkshire coast.

It was early evening and the effort became a strain

But even down below inside the deepest wooded dales,

I saw little wildlife, other than pheasants ludicrously astray

And blackbirds. Yet not one squirrel was there to boast. 

Tired and with a chill breeze worrying at my face,

Upon a lane-side hedge I spied a single moorhen, strangely,

Which, unmoved by my presence stood its bush, stubbornly,

As its partner scurried into a grassy field and scuttled away.

Then, back at the shepherd’s hut, my trek’s saving grace

Appeared in the field, a roe deer with white rump which grazed sagely

In the cloudy evening’s pervading dusk, feeding avidly

Until the vision was lost as night engulfed the Ridge Lane day…

Pete Ray

21st April 2023

More than two miles of walking along Ridge Lane had offered little but a robin and three blackbirds, whilst crows and gulls flew high.

Then, incongruously, I passed a moorhen standing on a hedge. Its partner rushed beneath a gate into a field…

Then, as I looked out of the hut, a roe deer had appeared in the otherwise vacant field. It was too dull to take decent images with my camera and so a mobile phone snapshot had to do…