I ONCE stepped back as a stag leapt across a footpath near Arne, just a few feet in front of me. It was magnificent and I just gasped in awe.

Coming from a city, it was a spellbinding moment, almost beyond my imagination. When I was a city child our family would travel miles to stately homes, if we were lucky, for the chance to see some deer.

They, like other animals, are wonderful to watch and it is a privilege that we can sometimes see them from afar when we stroll through the New Forest or rural Dorset.

Can anyone not despise the actions of vile poachers who kill them for greed, such as the grasping Noddies apparently responsible for luring them on to the bend of a road near Tolpuddle with sausage rolls and jam sandwiches.

There is nothing funny about being in collision with a deer.

How long will it be before a motorist is killed? How long before the next vehicle to come along is a motorbike?

The greedy thugs, it seems, remove the poor dead or injured animal from the road to profit by their callousness.

Let's hope these foul muppets are caught and pay a high price for their selfishness.

The only things I want to eat that are poached are eggs.

  • Not for the first time, AFC Bournemouth is facing trouble and the support of the town and the fans is crucial.

There are questions, no doubt, to be answered but this is a crunch time when everyone needs to get behind the club and the players.

The only goal that matters right now is survival.