A WILDLIFE lover was thrilled when she was able to take close-up photographs of a deer grazing in the garden of her home in Poole.

The sighting by Jan Smith and her husband Harry came last Wednesday evening, just a couple of weeks after a deer was spotted swimming ashore at Sandbanks before making its way along the beach on the harbour side of the peninsula.

Jan, who lives in Branksome Park, was indoors when her husband first saw the deer. She grabbed her camera and went out into the garden.

“It was so exciting I couldn’t hold the camera still. The deer was chestnut-coloured with white spots and a nice set of antlers. It wandered across the garden and stood within three feet of us to have a good look. It looked in absolutely pristine condition.”

Since then, she has heard of a number of other sightings, and of rose bushes stripped of buds overnight. “I’m constantly looking to see if it will come back. We walk through the woods down to the beach all the time, but we’ve never seen a deer before. It’s peculiar that something so beautiful is living among us and we don’t see it.”

Former Miss Bournemouth Jan has previously won a wildlife award for her garden, which attracts frogs, toads, grass snakes, butterflies, and birds. She has bat boxes and bee hotels and has been training a pair of crows to come to her when she whistles.

Other avian visitors include woodpeckers and a hawk that swoops down in hot spells to enjoy a cooling dip in the swimming pool.