On the Charge

Decided to do a bit more deer watching first thing this morning.  While I am usually confident I will see them in one of three fields I can drive past before getting out on foot, today drew a blank. 

I parked up and started walking but despite checking other usual haunts I still hadn't seen or heard any deer at all.  I was beginning to scratch my head when I heard a roar of a stag in the distance.  When I finally came across deer, they were in a large herd of between 25-30 in a recently harvested field. As you can see from the image they were moving at some pace, probably because they were spooked by local dog walkers on the edge of the field.  It is unusual for them to be in this area, but I think that the number of dog walkers was preventing them from getting out of this field and to more remote areas.

The same 8 point stag was the only male in the herd vocalising.  There were other immature stags in the herd, but he seems to be the only one of note.  When you realise that in previous years the herd had three or more imperial (with 14 point antlers) and monarch (with 16 point antlers) stags, I can only assume that the gamekeeper has had to cull them to control numbers.  If you look in the main image, there are at least 4 or 5 calves from this year's spring births.  It is probable that the size of herd was growing too much and another rut where more hinds became pregnant would only add to the numbers.

On getting home we had an easy morning before taking L's Mum out to lunch.