There are deer living happily in Shepperton. I saw a post social media from a resident who had come face to face with a startled Bambi near Shepperton cricket club. The post served to assure me that I had not been going total-ly mad when I had had a close encounter on Black Ditch, the wasteland to the right of Renfree Way, a month earlier. Two majestic deer sprang out onto my path and scarpered leaving me dumbfounded!
The posts on Facebook revealed that in fact there have been several sightings and the more I asked around, the more I discovered. One of the an-glers, fishing at Halliford Mere said “Oh yes. They have been around for as long as I have been fishing here and that is 20 years!”. So, clearly this is not new. They appear to be Roe deer. According to the British deer society, Roe deer are abundant in the UK and are strong-ly associated with woodland and copses, which would make sense considering where they have been spotted around Shepperton. So how long before they make it to Sunbury? Might we see them in Sunbury Park? It seems that deer are becoming braver when it comes to en-tering areas close to towns. Since seeing deer myself, once on one side of Renfree way and once on the other side, it makes you think….they clearly cross the road. One post on the Facebook thread attested exactly that “one ran out in front of me on Renfree Way…it missed my car by inches”. So do be aware!
I did contact our local Surrey County Councillor with my stories and suggested that there really should be ‘Beware of the Deer’ signs on Renfree Way. He was astonished and thought perhaps that these were domestic deer which had got out!!