The Stag

So far, we have only seen the doe and fawn at the edge of the woods.  The stag has finally made an appearance.  There have been noises of rutting coming from the woods at night.  The fawns take roughly 5 months to gestate, which worried me because that would put the birth into mid winter. I did some research and it appears the Roe deer does can ‘retain’ the fertilised egg(s) for up to 4 months, delaying development, so that the birth coincides with the better weather in Spring next year.  Who knew?!  Clever Deer.