Chevreuil.

They may well remind you of Bambi & Friends, but these Roe Deer are becoming a real pest.

Called 'Chevreuil' here in France, they wander about everywhere, eating whatever they find, and (the males) scratching great wealds onto the bark of young trees with their antlers.

Our local hunters do their best to thin the population between September and March, but there are still more than plenty about.

Most mornings I see 3 or 4 in the field outside my studio. Of course no-one wants them to completely disappear, but when they eat a whole row of my Swiss Chard overnight at Haddock's I'm less than happy.

I suppose my Swiss Chard is the least of the problem, and I can always put up a wire fence around Haddock's to keep the little devils out. It's the damage they do elsewhere that's the most important.

My late father used to say that, when vegetable gardening, you plant 75% for yourself, and 25% for the wildlife. He also used to add that unfortunately the wildlife tends to take 25% of each plant, and not form an orderly queue; eating their 25% from one end only. C'est la vie.