TRIMLEY: One of the largest herds of deer ever seen around the Trimleys has been spotted roaming the villages’ fields.

A stag and around 30 does were seen grazing in fields of winter crops near Grimston Hall, south of the Ipswich-Felixstowe railway line.

The fallow deer may have been driven down the peninsula by pheasant shoots taking place.

Walkers watched as the group snacked on green crops before becoming spooked and running off towards the farm at the bottom of Thorpe Lane, Trimley St Martin, heading through an area of woodland and then were seen again coming out of the trees and across the ridge.

“It was a beautiful and exciting sight and I have never seen so many deer together around the Trimleys,” said Evening Star Felixstowe editor Richard Cornwell, who was on a walk and birdwatching morning.

“When they came out of the trees, the stag stood and made sure each of his girls was safely out of the wood and going across the field before he followed them.

“They then disappeared over the ridge and down onto the marshes below Fingerbread Hill. There is lots of wooded land round there and I didn’t catch sight of them again.”

Other walkers felt the group may have been the herd which is regularly seen at Nacton but had come south along the peninsula because of the noise of the guns from a bird shoot.

n There is great diversity of collective nouns for deer. Those in our picture could form a sleuth, or a leash, but most likely, a herd of deer. A bevy of deer would be chosen by some but that would be incorrect as it is linked to roe deer and not their fallow cousins.

n Have you taken any brilliant animal pictures in Suffolk’s great outdoors? Send them to Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk