Aftermath of the rut

After breakfast I decided to go walk Xena in Bushy Park and maybe see if the stags were active as it is now rutting season. When I got there the stags were being very active, bellowing and chasing all the females. I decided not to walk Xena there as I don't think it is a good idea when the stags are like this. While she waited patiently in the car, I spent an hour watching one stag who had blood all over his face from a rut. I got there just as the fight finished, and he swam over the pond to the other side and then seemed to bully every other stag who gave any indication of coming close to his 'harem' of females, a large group standing in the water and around him.

Those poor females - he tried it on with nearly all of them, most just ran away but finally he got his chance with a few who were more tolerant of him! Of course there were the usual idiotic walkers with dogs, walking right next to the angry stags with no respect for what was going on. In extras : 1. A photographer getting close to the stag  2. Taking a break  3. young stag  4. Getting lucky (I have many xx rated images with all the details that I deemed not suitable for blip!)  5. Fellow blipper Sue who was also there taking photos

I was lucky to witness all this today, I nearly did not bother going there as the weather was not great today. After that I drove to the woods where Xena finally got her walk.

Last night we had our first camera club competition and I found it so interesting and very useful. The judge was excellent and I found I agreed with all his comments, most of the faults were due to technical aspects like poor focus and blown highlights. I was pleased with my result so it was a good start.