The Magpie's Hoard

Chatsworth Park

As I'm working at the weekend, I took a day off yesterday. I caught a bus out to Baslow and wandered through Chatsworth Park, savouring the warm autumnal sunshine.

From the woods to the east there came a spine-chilling guttural roar: a Red Deer stag declaring that he was in the mood for love! This has to be the scariest sound made by any wild animal in the British Isles. It sounds like a sound effect from Jurassic Park. You could be forgiven for thinking that something large and carnivorous was heading your way.

I walked in the direction of the roaring and soon spotted a group of hinds sheltering under the trees. As I watched, a stag with a fine set of antlers came crashing through the undergrowth, chasing a young rival off his patch.

I had to remind myself that this is not a truly wild herd: they are, presumably, farmed by the Chatsworth estate for venison. However, at this time of year they behave very much like wild deer. It would be a foolish stockman who tried to come between a stag and his hinds when the rut is in full swing.

Elsewhere in the park there a couple small herds of Fallow Deer: not as fearsome as the Red Deer and looking rather elegant in the dappled sunlight.

Autumn Break

Yesterday Liz and I got home from a long weekend in South Cumbria. With hindsight, we probably didn't pick the best weekend for an autumn break. The sun peeped briefly through the clouds a couple times on Sunday but, apart from that, the weather was gloomy and damp. Not the best of conditions for photography, but I did my best!

Danger: Low Flying Reindeer

By 'eck, you don't 'arf come across some tosh on t’internet…

I was planning to write a piece about the possible links between fly agaric mushrooms, flying reindeer and Santa Claus, as explored by Patrick Harding in his excellent book, The Magic of Christmas. Whilst Patrick’s theories about the shamans of Lapland getting stoned on hallucinogenic reindeer piddle* may be a little mischievous, they are well-researched and entirely credible.

Looking for more information about fly agarics on t’net, I came across a piece by Ross Heaven:

…the Zulu War was fought by the indigenous people under intoxication from the sacred mushroom. This had given them, not only superhuman strength and imperviousness to pain, but a sense of fearlessness and their own divine purpose in battle. It was this that had helped them leave the field victorious during the famous 'Charge of the Light Brigade'…

Well researched and credible? I think not!

A Footnote: *Patrick claims that getting stoned on hallucinogenic reindeer piddle is the origin of the phrase “getting pissed”. I’d go further and suggest that it may also explain where the phrase “taking the piss” comes from!