Really Unusual Things We See On Our walks

The great thing about walking with your dog, as well as the fresh air and exercise, is having the chance to discover some really interesting and usual things.

In Chaddesley Woods last year, Maimee, Tumble, Belle and I came across one of the saddest sights we have ever seen during our forays.

If you've been lucky enough to watch a buzzard in flight, and we bet you have, you'll know what a magnificent spectacle it is to see it soaring high above the fields with outstretched wings. They often fly in pairs and mew like cats.

They fly with their tails fanned out (red kites have smaller tails) and their wings are slightly tipped up at the ends. Last year, we were walking past a big log pile at the edge of the woods and there, laid out as if it was fast asleep, was a dead buzzard.

Buzzards can live for about 12 years so we don't know how old this was one was or how he died but there wasn't a mark on him.

Our owner would never have got this picture of Fantastic Mr Fox if we hadn't been on our leads in Chaddesley Woods. Just sitting there in the brush enjoying the early evening sunshine almost as if he knew we were there but wanted to pose for a snap before bounding off into the undergrowth.

You can see a fair few foxes in the woods if you're out at dusk. And if you're not lucky enough to see one, you can generally hear the dog foxes barking.

Muntjac deer which are about the same size as a dog are another common sight in Chaddesley Woods although our owner's never been quick enough to catch one for the family album because they're shy and pretty nippy on their hooves.

We saw a mum and baby one year, just standing in the middle of the track near the log shed and we've seen others leap across the undergrowth, disappearing with a bob of their little white tails.

Like the foxes, if you don't see them, you can hear them barking which is why they're often referred to as barking deer. We found this male muntjac skull (the males have little pointy horns) at the edge of a field adjoining the woods.

Two months ago, we found a sheep's skull, again in a field along the edge of the woods, which must have been picked clean by carrion crows after a fox had had his fill.

Another find by our owner last year was one of the strangest. Maimee and I missed it because these six spot ladybirds were hibernating on a gate post at the edge of the woods and we tend to keep our noses to the ground.