The countryside - a mysterious place full of strange creatures...

It's a sheep, not a goat or a llama...

I'll return to my woolly friend later...

Apparently, a new survey has revealed that there are some amazingly ill-informed people out there. According to the Travelodge hotel chain, of 3,000 people surveyed, 22% could not identify a picture of a hare. One in 10 adults thought it was a deer. Alright, it does depend on the picture they're shown as to whether you'd think it was a rabbit or a hare, although if it's a still life, the legs and ears are a pretty good clue. But a deer?...

Talking of deer, 12% per cent of the survey group identified a stag as a reindeer, and thought that reindeer were native to Britain. Now, there is a herd of reindeer in Phoenix Park, Dublin, but I've never seen any in the wild here. Perhaps they thought they live in Scotland.

32% had difficulty picking out a pheasant, which surprises me less. I would have had a pretty good idea before I moved to a village surrounded by them, and I used to look for them on rural train journies, but given the number of people who don't venture into the countryside, it isn't unexpected.

42% didn't know what an otter looked like and that does surprise me. Everybody likes otters, don't they? They're cute, they're on every countryside programme there is, and you can find them surrounded by small children in zoos.

And in a sign that I'm getting old, 83% were stumped by a picture of a common bluebell. Bluebells were iconic English woodland flowers, I thought. Perhaps if there were more pictures of them in 'Midsomer Murders', they'd be more familiar...

However, what worried me most was that one in ten adults failed to correctly identify a sheep. A sheep, for pity's sake. Anyway, if there are any readers of this blog who are confused on this question, have a look at the picture at the beginning. It's a sheep...