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Nearly pooped ourselves!


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This isn't proper 'fowling so posted it here. Sunday night the landowner and me decided to sit around our flight pond and maybe bag one or two ducks. A couple of Teal took flight as we approached but we left them alone and parked ourselves in cover. Once or twice a few ducks passed out of range quite high up but showed no interest, but we were happy enough just chewing the cud and the dog enjoyed herself plunging into the pond after one or two ducks we missed as they flitted between the trees.

We had for a while heard some creaking and cracking in the dark thick trees in the wood behind us, and we had agreed 'badger' or 'deer', but as it grew darker the noises grew louder and closer, and in the still of the trees at night the noises took on an air of foreboding; just slowly and steadily growing nearer. The dog was interested by now, which got our attention, and by now it was getting difficult to even see each other about four yards apart with most of the light gone, but the sky was still much lighter than the ground and especially the wood, which I love walking through in daylight, but which had now taken on an entirely sinister background.

There was another loud crack, this time only yards away and I whispered, "That's no ****** badger or deer", and then we could make out the tops of some wild rasp's moving as if something big was shoving its way through. Landowner says, "It's bloody huge; what the hell is it?" and just then this almighty screeching came out of the trees just above us and there was an almighty crash as something burst out of the bushes just a few feet away. The noise from above was straight out of psycho and I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck bristle as a cold shudder went right through me. What the hell was going on?

Anyhow, in less than a couple of seconds all was revealed. The noise above turned out to be a Heron, but I've never heard one make a sound like that before; it went on for ages, and the huge monster turned out to be one of the landowners bullocks which flattened one of our stiles and the fence it was attached to in its panic to get out of the wood.

For a split second there I thought we had slipped into another dimension and were somewhere in the 'Twilight Zone'! Have never been that spooked since my teens. We turned to each other and laughed as much in relief as anything else I think, and he said he'd nearly carped himself and I had to admit things could have turned very smelly for both of us for a while.

Anyhow, went up to see him today and he said he'd found the gate into the wood open (walkers?) the following morning, but neither of us had suspected cattle as he'd just removed all stock from that field that very morning, but obviously left one behind which must have been in the wood already, at the time.

We can laugh about it now, but neither of us was laughing then. :) Two grown men, both armed, scared ****less. :yes:

 

 

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Great story and very well expressed. The sound of a distressed Heron for the first time of hearing is unbelievably strange. I had one once trapped under the netting covering a pond. I really thought it was some kind of escaped wild cat until,I pushed the wife out first to see what it was and saw the bl**dy thing trapped under the net.

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Thanks all. Have obviously heard Herons calling before, which is a sort of mild screech, as you'll all know, but had never heard one make a sound like that before, or for so long, and for a few seconds genuinely had no idea what it was.....and neither had the bullock apparently. We didn't get any ducks; called it a night after that. :)

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