Fifteeen years ago I lived in Buckinghamshire and was a member of BBONT (Berkshire Buckingshire & Oxford Nature Trust). One hot sunny Sunday afternoon I was photographing butterflies on one of their reserves and had just taken a photograph of a five-spotted burnet; I congratulated myself because it was the first one I had seen. Having walked on a few yards I came round a vertically hanging branch of a small oak tree when I came across a beautifully marked full grown puma. It had been basking in the hot sunshine and I was no more than ten feet fom it. Fortunately it was more frightened of me than I was of it and it jumped up and dived through a hole in the hedge. It was a beautiful golden colour with white underneath and up its chest. I tried looking through the hedge to see if I could get a shot of it but with the macro lens that I was using it was impossible.
Later I only told a few trusted friends because someone in the area was hunting with a crossbow and had, to my knowledge, shot a fox through a foreleg, which became gangrenous. There were plenty of deer in the area to provide a source of food and I had not heard of any sheep being killed at the time. However, don't let anyone doubt the veracity of my account I and am willing to swear to the truth of it in any court in the world, or in the next, if I get the chance.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
In November Sahar Dimus, our guide on four CFZ Sumatra expeditions, died of liver failure leaving a widow Lucy and four Children. On the 2nd November, Dezyama D. Sangma, wife of our friend and colleague Dipu Marak, our collaborator on the 2010 Indian expedition died, leaving her grieving husband and two small children.
1 comment:
Hi Robin, did this encounter happen at Burnham Beeches?
Post a Comment