The beast coming to a wood near you

I like to take my time coming off the hill. Patience is always rewarded on this piece of wild country above the Solway, even if it’s a mere glimpse of a sparrowhawk or the whirling span of golden plover above the coast. There are plenty of good places to lie out and watch the world go by. Passing through a favourite spot in the autumn, I laid in the heather and took out my binoculars.

This is a good place to find a fox, and somehow my eye was drawn to a patch of rough grass and birch scrub 300 yards away. I don’t know why I lingered upon that spot, but my hackles rose as I focused the lenses and found that there was a great