Alpha and Beta - Rutting

Before I got up I could hear a Reeves Muntjac barking, which they often do. A few minutes later, there were two of them “rutting” at the bottom of the orchard at almost the furthest point from the kitchen window!
 
The rut is the mating season of ruminant animals such as deer, sheep, camels or goats. I have only seen animals do this on television, so I was quite pleased to get some pictures of them; as you can see, one of the trees got in the way! As much as I hate to add extra pictures, this being a one picture a day site, I have included three more of them rutting and a picture of the winner, now called Alpha. After Hoppy’s demise last year we hoped that some new males would appear and here are two. Shortly after this they were grazing happily together as can be seen on my husband’s journal. My husband also saw a large fox and a squirrel sharing the same space, although as the two Reeves Muntjac walked towards the fox, it ran away into the undergrowth.

A lazy Sunday is planned with roast for lunch, Formula One on the television and maybe some knitting or crochet in between.