...And, then there Were Seven!

(but only one antler on the year old stag - he's probably broken the other spindly one off whilst rough grazing, not in a rutting battle, he's far too young for that)

Ever get THAT feeling that you are being watched???

Wild New Forest Deer - not the 'tame' type you can almost stroke that Max Ellis can poke his lens up their nostrils in a London Park. lol. 

This is slightly cropped from 400mm lens on DX, eqv to 600mm in 35mm terms.

From one pair of distinctive ears that appeared on the horizon, then a half interested half profile of another to some minutes later, the whole seven, perched as they often do, on a bracken scrubbed knoll from where they can survey the landscape that they rightly reign. 

A few minutes later, they ambled slowly down the far side of the slope, so I was very happy that it was because they chose to do so and not because I had given them reason to flight.

Perhaps controversially, it was a nice blue sky (though they are in shadow) but I have gone black and white. BUT, this has enabled me to make the most of the silhouetted outlines as well as glean much detail in their markings and faces. Initially, for example, the face of the darker stag was so dark, I thought that he might be looking the other way (they are always diligent) but without the worries of colours going horrible and artificial, I was able to lighten his features considerably whilst still looking natural.

Incidentally, two other herds of deer caught on camera a few hours previous on the way up, including a nice grazing herd of 17 with a fine buck and antlers and another herd on the opposite hill in the same location that had a very rare albino doe. In fact, she gave her whole herd away as I wouldn't have seen them if I hadn't trained the long lens on the bright white object (so much for effective camouflage)!

But heat haze (yes, you wouldn't believe it, would you - but it was only the wind that was cold, the sun is quite strong at this time of the year) and distance made these images rather less than ideal.

All in all, a really long day's walk, from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.