ONE of Oxfordshire's stranger music festivals got into full swing yesterday as punters took advantage of the sunny weather.

Known for its weird and wonderful atmosphere, Wilderness offers visitors the chance to walk on fire, engage in debate with the brother of unsuccessful US Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders and even join a rogue taxidermy session to make a two-headed winged rat.

There is also an eclectic offering for music lovers who can sample sounds from eight different areas of the festival, which was last night a headlined by Robert Plant and his seven piece ensemble the Sensational Space Shifters.

They are set to be followed tonight by the Crystal Fighters, then psych-rock outfit The Flaming Lips on Sunday.

Also new this year to the event at Cornbury Park, near Charlbury, is The Playhouse, a theatre which will showcase new comedy and cabaret, and The Atrium which will display an array of music and dance from around the world.

A range of food was on offer and for those not too squeamish, there was an opportunity to learn how butcher a deer before cooking and eating it with fresh produce from Cornbury woods.

Nick Weston of Hunter Gather Cook is among those cooking at the festival.

He said: "All wild animals have their challenges, but I would say deer stalking is certainly up there.

"Patience, stealth and shot placement have to be bang on, and many hours can be spent in pursuit of them, and having the ground and the opportunity to stalk them can be even more challenging.

"The perfect meal is about the right food being cooked the right way in the right place with the right people."

Organisers believe this year's event, which finishes on Sunday, will be the biggest yet with the number of visitors exceeding the 30,000 who turned up in 2015.

Another festival with a whacky reputation that started yesterday was Supernormal, in Braziers Park near Wallingford.

It is set to see performances from bands including Girl Sweat, The Lowest Form, Adrena Adrena, City Hands, Dwellings, Arvind Ganga, Christos Fanaras, Guttersnipe, The Wild Bunch, JK Flesh, Ashtray Naviations, Knifeworld and Millions of Dead Corpses.