Foxglove

The dog seemed to have her 'night eyes' straight away, for she was pacing around me, eager to get on.

I clipped the battery pack around my waist, tested the lamp briefly, and started to walk. The dog needed no command to stay at heel: this was her world and she knew what was expected of her.

Despite the drying winds, the field I approached out of the strip of woodland was heavy walking, the tilth treading deeply under each footfall. I switched the lamp on briefly, then off.

That showed me three roe deer in the open field, eating the wheat, and a rabbit close to the boundary hedge. Ignoring the deer, as she has been taught, the dog queried the rabbit with a sharp prod of her nose on my leg. No, not that one.

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette March 5