There’s a ghostly glint in the low sun bouncing off the autumn leaves as Doe White emerges daintily from the woods.
After a fallow buck leaves cover and checks all’s clear, his harem follows. Among the half-dozen fawn-coloured females, one is whiter than them all.
They graze the field margin as the buck keeps watch, pausing to sniff the air and prick their ears up from time to time.
Such are the amazing sights which send my spirits soaring in lockdown - the wealth of wildlife which is out there to enrich us all.
The occasional car flashes past oblivious as I tuck my elbows in to keep the camera and long lens steady. I’m zoomed out to the max, a field away.
I’m lost in the moment as I track Doe White through the viewfinder. But my camera doesn’t care how rare or beautiful she is. She’s just 1/1,000 of a second at f/5.6. I need faster to be sure I can catch her. Can I hold it steady enough to get her sharp as she snaps in and out of focus?
I under-expose to quicken the shutter. I take a deep breath, hold it for a moment and hit the button as I breathe out slowly.
Click-click-click-click, click-click-click-click, I fill my boots for a moment or two. Doe White throws a suspicious glance in my direction, twitching her ears. Her sisters follow suit as the buck looks up and lofts his antlers.
I can’t believe they can hear the camera at this distance, let alone catch my scent against the breeze. But something tells me this encounter won’t last much longer.
Then a pheasant comes clattering out of the undergrowth, startling the herd. Spooked deer bound away into the woods like rabbits and the photocall is over. I drive home a richer man.
Norfolk Wildlife Trust later said it receives a couple of reports of wild white fallow sightings in the county each year. The unusual colouration is caused by a mutation.
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