In The Countryside: Pam Taylor has a stunning encounter with Britain's largest mammals.

I was stopped in my tracks by a sight I hadn't seen in several weeks. There, on the edge of the marshes where the grass meets the trees, were six red deer stags. I was thankfully downwind and had been strolling slowly along, so these magnificent beasts remained unawares of me as I stopped to watch them.

The group included three young stags whose antlers were little more than spikes. Two others were mature stags with full sets of antlers, and much heavier necks and chest muscles to support them. The last was another mature stag, but apparently older than the others. His neck was incredibly deep and his antlers several inches higher and much wider than those of his companions. He was obviously the dominant male in other ways too.

As I watched, this largest male chased the younger three away from their grazing and into the trees, almost as if he were herding them to safety. The two mature stags were behind him at this point and turned the other way to continue feeding on the winter grass. The old stag ignored them for a few minutes as he surveyed his surroundings, then these too were chased into the cover of the trees.

As I remained like a statue watching this scene play out, a small bird flew down to perch on a clump of grass nearby. It was a song thrush, something else I've not seen for some time. As I carefully panned my eyes across the marsh I became aware of other birds; a flock of fieldfares were also hunting among the clumps of grass and rushes, with a few blackbirds. Suddenly the stag tensed and the flock of birds flew away. The reason soon became evident. A previously unseen buzzard had entered the scene to see what he could discover on the ground.

The stag seemed to note its presence, then relax again and pay no further attention to this large, brown bird. In turn, the buzzard decided there was nothing of worth on the ground and returned to the trees. After a few more mouthfuls of grass, the old stag took one last look around the marsh, then followed his companions into the trees.