Ever had that eerie feeling that you’re being watched?

Maybe you’re paranoid… Or maybe it’s true!

The end of the day is when the owls and the badgers, and the creatures of the night are beginning to stir. Be aware. You are being watched…

You’re not going crackers if you believe you’re being watched. Studies show that the human brain can detect when people (or creatures) are looking at us even if we haven’t consciously noticed them ourselves. That moment in a crowded train when you look up and spot someone staring at you. Or when you’re out in the woods and you instinctively look round and find yourself eyeball to eyeball with a deer. The theory goes that the brain has processed that you’re being watched even though it hasn’t consciously told you. Hopefully you get my drift!

Back to Bepton woods. I was sitting quietly, waiting to watch badgers when along came a herd of deer who spotted me long before I clocked them. The South Downs has a huge deer population and this lot made a right old fuss – barking and snorting and stamping their feet at me. Every badger within a mile of me must have got the message to go back to sleep and not to come out of their sett!