Sneaky deer

 

I've not heard a stag roar for a while now, the rut must be coming to an end. As a consequence the groups of deer are beginning to dissipate. We disturbed a large group of Fallow Deer as we headed up from Bratley Water towards Bratley enclosure. They clocked our approach and quickly scattered; a few minutes later I spotted two of the stags back to back hidden amongst the browning bracken and scrub, a good defensive arrangement.

The Rut

Maybe through novelty and the access to new territory, the recently unenclosed Reinfield’s Sandy’s has become a Mecca for deer. The rut is most certainly on. Walking along the central track to my right I could hear hidden antlers clashing, off to my left deep in the stands a stag barked his guttural call, whilst ahead of me a group of fallow does cross the track watching Geoff and I hesitantly, before hastily disappearing into the safe darkness of a coniferous stand. A young white fallow stag stands clearly silhouetted against the dark greens and browns of autumn; I imagined him ironically saying 'you can’t see me, right', but I can, they do tend to stand out some. White fallow deer are a far more common sight that they were 20 years ago. The deer are everywhere, we see dozens, even when I can’t see them, I know their eyes are watching me pass.

Stag

The Deer are quiet out in the forest, seen mostly in pairs, you do see the occasional small group. They're definitely laying low. The ones you spot are wary, alert and suspicious, watching from a distance and ready to bolt at a moments notice. Damn straight too, Geoff and I are clearly apex predators. I don't know if the forests' deer had a particularly rough rutting season, but we've seen quite a few deer carcasses about this winter. More than we'd usually expect to see.