Strange deer behaviour?

[London Best]

Whilst stalking yesterday I was watching a Fallow doe grazing and browsing in open woodland, at a range of around a hundred yards. 
She appeared to pick something off the floor and throw it in the air. This was repeated three times. My wife was with me, and we both thought the object looked like a piece of cloth. 
After some twenty or thirty minutes the doe wandered off to rejoin a group of four or five others, which had been vaguely visible in thicker cover beyond her. 
Curiosity got the better of us and we went to see what it was that the doe had thrown up. It turned out to be a grey tee shirt. 
I have never witnessed anything like this in my thirty five years stalking, and I wondered if anyone else has observed similar behaviour, or if perhaps it is not uncommon?

[marsh man]

3 minutes ago, London Best said:

Whilst stalking yesterday I was watching a Fallow doe grazing and browsing in open woodland, at a range of around a hundred yards. 
She appeared to pick something off the floor and throw it in the air. This was repeated three times. My wife was with me, and we both thought the object looked like a piece of cloth. 
After some twenty or thirty minutes the doe wandered off to rejoin a group of four or five others, which had been vaguely visible in thicker cover beyond her. 
Curiosity got the better of us and we went to see what it was that the doe had thrown up. It turned out to be a grey tee shirt. 
I have never witnessed anything like this in my thirty five years stalking, and I wondered if anyone else has observed similar behaviour, or if perhaps it is not uncommon?

For many years if we saw a deer of any species it was quite a rare event and seeing one was a red letter day , now we have got deer of all species are everywhere so seeing one during anything unusual could become more common .

I remember seeing one of the smaller species of deer walking over the mud flats on the South side of our estuary towards the river , nothing spooked it and god only knows what he / she was looking for to eat , maybe crabs ? , anyhow it walked to the edge of the fast flowing river and had no more to do when it swam all the way accross and the last time I saw it was when it was walking backwards and forwards around the mud flats on the North side which is quite a large expance of mud until you come to dry land .   MM  

[derbyduck]

On 27/04/2023 at 18:59, marsh man said:

For many years if we saw a deer of any species it was quite a rare event and seeing one was a red letter day , now we have got deer of all species are everywhere so seeing one during anything unusual could become more common .

I remember seeing one of the smaller species of deer walking over the mud flats on the South side of our estuary towards the river , nothing spooked it and god only knows what he / she was looking for to eat , maybe crabs ? , anyhow it walked to the edge of the fast flowing river and had no more to do when it swam all the way accross and the last time I saw it was when it was walking backwards and forwards around the mud flats on the North side which is quite a large expance of mud until you come to dry land .   MM  

Sampfire ?

[marsh man]

40 minutes ago, derbyduck said:

Sampfire ?

Could well be , but we have only got very small amounts of Sampfire here in the South of the county compared with the salt marshes at North Norfolk , another plant it could have found to it's liking was Zos grass , well that is we called it , it was also known as Wigeon grass because they loved the stuff , maybe another contender could be Sea Lavender ?

[ditchman]

pickled samphire and cold thinly slice roast beef....MMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[derbyduck]

3 hours ago, ditchman said:

pickled samphire and cold thinly slice roast beef....MMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

or roast muntjac Ditchy ?

[ditchman]

38 minutes ago, derbyduck said:

or roast muntjac Ditchy ?

no probs.....rekon there is more taste in a munty that a fallow or red......