Red Deer

The number of Red Deer (Cervus elephus) around the forest would have appeared to have grown over the last few years. There was a time when I would've been  surprised to have stumbled upon a handful of Red Deer amongst the stands, now though it's become a common event to see groups of 15 plus milling about. A few hundred meters further and we spotted another group of similar number. Spring stirs through the stands.

Cervus elaphus

A sizeable herd of Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) loiter on the edge of Brinken Wood, there must've been 50 or so of them. Lovely sight to see. They're big, our biggest mammal I think, majestic too. Though even here in the open they seem to blend in, part of the forest, and once in woodland they can quickly disappear; they're much better camouflaged than the other deer species in the forest. 

Red Deer

 

As we approached Highland Water through Brinken Wood this morning we disturbed a large herd of Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) grazing on the other side of the stream in Camel Green, maybe 30 plus of them, including at least 2 stags. They looked healthy and content, and although we'd disturbed their grazing they didn't appear that bothered by our presence, they obviously felt safe enough across the stream from us not to bolt. It was an amiable meeting, we moved on and they returned to grazing. It's nice seeing the forests' deer community, especially a herd of majestic Red Deer, though increasingly I can't ignore the damage they're causing to the forests' longevity; deer numbers in the UK are at a 1,000 year high. This is another mess of our own making, what's to be done though?