THE answer to Michael Conneely's question (Review Letters 25/09/2009) is: The white bird recently seen on Woorgreen Lake is a little egret. The great egret has a yellow bill and black feet, whereas the little egret has a black bill and yellow feet as seen on the one at Woorgreen Lake.
It is still a privilege to see different kinds of birds making a home on our ponds, although the fishermen have recently had problems with cormorants.
It's amazing what else you can see while out walking in our forest, the fallow deer rut is around the corner, (from October to November) and the deer come in all different sizes and colours!
They include common, menil, melanistic and albinistic (pictured) although the true albino deer is very rare, so this could be just a pure white?
I have been lucky enough to see and photograph all four in the past and I am certain that a melanistic deer seen at low light from a distance could be what some people are mistaking for a large black cat.
Fallow bucks can become very territorial at this time of the year and although they are not a threat to humans, they must be treated with respect as they have some pretty impressive weapons on top of their heads! You cannot mistake the noise they make while rutting, the sound is in between a loud belch and a lions roar. If you are lucky enough to hear the bucks fighting it sounds like ancient warriors fighting with wooden swords. Awesome!
And I can never have my say without mentioning the cute and cuddly wild boar. Not cuddly you say? I beg to differ, check out this photo taken by my nephew Paul Skelton (also from Cinderford) of a boar doing a spot of sun bathing.
Man eaters ah? I think not – Robin Ward, Cinderford.