Deer Diary – Roe, Red and Fallow

Shelley and I have just got back from a FANTASTIC weekend in Exmoor. I haven’t been out taking photos for a while – this weekend has got me fully charged up again – more photos and less work I promise!!

We went on a safari tour of Exmoor with Johnny Kingdom – the man is tremendous – a genuine lovely man with the character to match. He took a group of us out in his 4×4 and showed us all the hot spots in and around the Exmoor area.

Within the group we met some nice people who all shared the same embarrassing hobby of being a deer photographer – sharing some tips with Dave has inspired me to get a larger lense/glass for my camera – I think it might be arriving tomorrow morning –

I usually take pictures of Roe Deer but I had the pleasure of coming face to face with over 20 wild Red Deer out in the windy, wet grasslands of Exmoor (well done Shelley for spotting them from the car) – it was exhilarating! Exmoor is beautiful…

Here are a couple of the photos that were taken – if i get some more time i will add some more shortly.

I was out in the woods with Dave Burns (my mate) when we came across this Roe Deer. It has antlers that I haven’t seen before with ‘growths’ at the bottom of the antlers. It isn’t a great photo as we couldn’t get close enough with there being two of us:

Can anyone comment on this photo if they find it a little unusual or let me know if this is a common thing…

Eagle eyed Shelley (my girlfriend) spotted the pair in a field, busily eating away! This is my first fawn caught on film! It was fantastic We dodged the traffic to walk up close enough to take the photos (after nearly putting the car in a ditch in a rush to pull over and find a place to park) – unfortunately it was too far away to get some really sharp pictures – but you can’t have it all Here is one:

I got another glimpse of the fox cubs in the back garden this morning. They are growing up fast! Check out 1 of 3 cubs here:

These pictures were taken at 9.10 with limited light on full zoom at 300mm on a Nikon D200 with shutter priority.

It is Harry the Roe Deer Stag again – it took me over half an hour to get anywhere close enough to get a picture of him

Here are two pictures, Harry with a Pheasant looking at him and the other showing the stag before he jumped back into the woods:

AND – there is a squirrel that has worked out how to use the bird feeder:

This is one of my favourite shots of a Roe Deer I took just before she looses he winter coat. It was taken on the 1st May early evening. She was busily eating amongst the blue bells

I managed to get down to the woods after work to see if the bird feeder has be found – and it had! I immediately spotted a roe picking up scraps underneath the feeder whilst the birds were busily eating the food.

I didn’t get any birds but i got this shot of a lovely Roe Deer.

I went up to the woods with Shelley but we only got a glimpse of a stag that i haven’t seen before. The photo was from too far away, so i wasn’t able to get a good snap, but here he is:

I have setup a bird feeder in a remote part of the woods to give me something else to focus on whilst i am waiting for the deer

Shelley and me went to the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in Arundel to go and feed the ducks and try out some new settings on my camera. The weather is hot, hot, hot and Arundel was rammed

Here are some pictures of the day:

I was up in Harry’s neck of the woods (Harry the Roe Deer!) when I saw a barn owl in the distance. The barn owl had flown out of an oak tree and was checking out what he could find to eat along the fence. The barn owl flew from post to post for a while, landing on top of the wooden fence post to survey the grass below in search of a mouse or two. I crouched down in the hope that the barn owl would come along in my direction. I couldn’t believe my luck, it started to fly towards me following the fence that I was hiding next to. I got a number of photos showing the sequence of the barn owl approaching me. It came right up to me before it recognised I was there. As soon as he clocked me he quickly turned around and went into the next field. 

Below is a photo of the best shot I got:

I have found a group of young Long Tailed Tits. They seem to come and check me out for 5 mins before disappearing back into the woods. There is a group of approx 8 that move very fast amongst the branches of the trees; it makes it very hard to take the shot…

Then, on the way out of the woods, and late in the evening (9.30pm) I had another close encounter with another Roe Stag. He looked like Harry; a yearling with similar antlers. He was a distance from where I usually see him but not too far away for it to be possible. What do you think?

Above: Is this Harry?

Above: Harry the Roe Deer

Tonight was a real treat! I had wanted to visit this new piece of woodland I had had my eye on for a while. I left work on time which gave me enough free evening to explore this new place not too far away from my usual haunt. 

One of my early encounters with a young deer happened on a Sunday afternoon about 5 or 6 months back. I was on my own creeping down a path i had found that cut through the main woodland that i regularly visit. Three quarters of the way down this path i suddenly found myself in front of a young roe deer – only 8 feet away from me. I couldn’t believe it and the deer was equally as shocked. I gradually lowered myself to my knees so as not to look threatening. I spent 5 mins 8 foot away from this wild animal – she was frozen with fear but gradually got used to me whilst i was gently telling her that it was ok. This encounter was before i purchased my camera and i deeply regretted that i didn’t capture any pictures of this extremely unusual meeting. I didn’t think i would get another opportunity to get this close to a wild Roe Deer again… 

Then, along came Harry! I cut up through the new woods and came across an open field with a path running along the side. I immediately got distracted by some noisy woodpeckers – young woodpeckers that still hadn’t left their nest. I stood there for a while listening to their noisy requests for food and got a fleeting look at Mum and Dad as they flew close to the nest but wouldn’t feed the young whilst i was about – so i moved on.

As soon as i turned around i spotted a deer feeding to the side of this large field. I am still new to stalking but i thought i would give it a go. I managed to creep along to an opening in the fence that gave me access to the same field as this one deer. There was enough long grass to allow me to get close enough to a group of trees that i could then use as cover. After several minutes i managed to get close enough to the tree that gave me barrier between the deer and me. This gave me enough time to work out the best route to get close enough to shoot some good shots of the mystery deer – at this time i got my first shots and saw on the camera display that it was a young buck. There were some stinging nettles in front of me that i had to crawl through to get to another tree that would give me the best position to start taking photos – so i got on with it.

After a few stings from the nettles i had managed to position myself behind the tree without getting spotted. The young Roe Stag was eating the grass with his back to me – once i started taking a few shots he quickly realised that he wasn’t alone. He looked over but i was hidden enough to hide my human shape – it left him feeling comfortable enough to try and work out what i was…

I was as close as i could ever hope to be (Roe are the fairies of the forest, you are lucky to see them)  and was excited about what pictures i might get – i had to be quick and react to this rare opportunity before he did a runner! It is really common for me to get a deer in sight and loose it before I can even get the camera to my face.

I wanted to react quickly without scaring him away to get as many pictures as possible. To my amazement this Roe Buck (Harry) started to walk towards me, licking his nose to work out what i smelt of. I hid in the grass next to the tree and poked my head up to capture a shot here and there – i was surprised and fascinated to see Harry doing the same thing, popping his head up and down to catch a glimpse of me. Once he got too close he ran away – this happened after about a minute. I was gutted… But then, he returned getting even closer, determined to see who i was. 

This same procedure of coming up to me – getting too close – and jumping away continued for about 20 mins. It felt great and i managed to send out a couple of text messages telling Mum and girlfriend what i was doing, “a young Roe Stag was playing with me in a field!”.

It was one of those moments that you savour as they don’t happen all the time and i am pleased to say that i got some good pictures, take a look:

Harry taken from the stinging nettles (far away to begin with):
 

Young Roe Stag (Harry) trying to work out what I am:
 

Licking his lips to get my scent:
 

Harry coming back trying to find where I am:

Action shot of Roe running away:

My favourite picture from the evening (8.15pm – 28/05/08):