Flying deer!

 I had to be out early this morning. There was a lovely red glow and a mist in the valley, so I imagined taking a prizewinning photo of a deer calmly grazing in the mist.  Of course, reality was nothing like that.  The herd of does and their young was obviously disturbed by a dog or something and they skittered across the ride in front of us, one by one.  There was so little light that they were rather blurred and the back view of a deer is not the best one.

I was quite pleased to see my first Fly Agaric of the season.  We had just been saying yesterday that I hadn't seen one yet, so I assume this one had popped up fairly quickly as the red is quite noticeable.

They are hallucinogenic and there are many folk tales about them.  My favourite (which could be why Santa Claus was depicted wearing red and white) is that they are the reason why Santa's reindeer can fly.  Historically, the Shamen of reindeer-herding tribes in Lapland would prepare Fly agaric fungi and their hallucinations allowed them to travel up the chimney to the spirit world.  These same tribes would sometimes drink the urine of reindeer (or even the Shamen) that had fed on the fungi, allowing them to sample the hallucinogens perhaps more safely. It is quite easy to see how these events could lead to our traditions.

On the way home we met the buck herd in the woods. They hadn't been there on our way out so they took me by surprise and I still didn't get the perfect photo. At least it gives me an excuse to try again another time!