We went to Staple Plain on the Quantocks for a walk and found lots of traffic there.

We saw the hunt chasing a deer across the top of Weacombe Hill, and they drove it into a little copse, followed by several horses and the hounds.

The rest of the hunt made a chain around them and after a scuffle we heard a shot which echoed through the valley.

Later a horse pulled the deer down through the wood.

Feeling deeply inadequate, I walked on and, rounding the bend, I heard the first cuckoo of spring. A new year for me, but not for the deer.

K Richards, Williton.