Desperately Sad News for Sherborne

Over the last two or three years in particular, I think, two fabulous creatures have caught our imagination along with the barn owls last winter. The “white hart” a magical looking animal was often seen across the Brook, and “Blanche” the swan became the latest partner for the venerable Hamlet, the swans who move back and forth between the lakes and Haycroft. Swans too have their own magic.

I’m not really a sentimental person, but I was enthralled by the occasional sight of the white deer and pleased as punch when earlier this year the two adult swans accompanied by their cygnets paddled proudly by.

But life’s cruel wheel has turned, as it always does.

A while back I reported that all the cygnets had been lost, for reasons unknown. Now Blanche too has disappeared. Perhaps died, or predated, or decided that the environment here was no longer suitable. We’ll never know . Hamlet, or another male, we aren’t quite sure, has been seen only intermittently. I’m no ornithologist but I suspect there’s not enough open water these days to “take off” on the lakes, and the Brook between the Broadwater and Waterloo bridge is now totally blocked with debris from fallen trees which has trapped vegetation, meaning surface transit is impossible to and from Haycroft.

Then this morning the body of the white hart was found , its antlers caught in a fenceline. I won’t post the pictures passed to me, they are too distressing. No-one’s fault, just the way things happen.

I have discussed the latter with Nigel, the local licensed deerstalker, and he too is distressed and upset by the sad end to this fine animal. The consolation he offers is that there are two other white young bucks in the local vicinity and we should hope that one of them will grow to take the place of the dead stag within the herd, and within our hearts too as we glimpse them from afar. The wheel of life will turn in favour of these fabulous white creatures, again. We should also think about the joy other creatures, of smaller proportions give us. Butterflies have been amazing this summer and I felt joy, again, as a hare padded right by my feet without a sound, as I sat still in some grass three or four weeks ago. There’s a lot to be said for sitting still.

I’m less certain of the swans, I’m afraid. Please report any sightings and I’ll share them with the Group.