Buck Roe Deer Rewards

Sunday proved to be a cold dark overcast and windy day and a challenge for  'Roe Deer in the reed' Photography.

Apart from the poor weather conditions the small herd of six or more Deer forgot to turn up to feed so I spent several hours sitting in low tree branches looking out for them and drinking coffee while waiting for some action.

When it did eventually arrive it came in the form of the dominant older buck that tends to feed on its own and feed it certainly did,  rarely raising its head above the reed beds in an hours feed to afford me a few portraits images before I left feeling a little disappointed with my progress.

It had proved tricky waiting for brief  'Head up'  shots and focusing through the tall reeds a nightmare with more shots lost than gained but my reward came by way of just the three images posted below that I was on hindsight very pleased to have come away with.

Buck Roe Deer

A mature Buck Roe Deer was the first of six deer to catch my attention this morning as it lead a group of females out from a small coppice.

This fine looking buck was shedding the velvet from its rather raw looking set of new antlers and the loose velvet was hanging down over his forehead.

As I watched this buck from about a hundred metres I was surprised when thirty minutes later it was joined by the young buck that I had worked on the previous morning,  it moved out into the long grasses and was welcomed by the older male.

On previous occasions when I have seen two males in the same territory the dominant male has always seen off  the younger bucks.

The two males eventually walked off back into the coppice and it was nice to see the older male stop and tangle its antlers into the tree branches to help remove the annoying velvet.

Buck Roe Deer Behaviour

Wildlife animals quite often come up with some surprising behaviour that might not become noticeable until you get the chance to study their habits for a few days,

The fine buck Roe Deer in the image above has been staying in a field that is several females territory while waiting for them to become responsive to mating,

Roe Deer are notorious for being difficult to get close to and often easily spooked,  Just a couple of days ago this buck charged off across the field taking a Doe and her kid with him because he suddenly realised that I was quietly crouched outside the hedgerow of one corner of their field.

Nothing particularly unusual about that perhaps yet this buck has been sleeping in a very shallow treeline that fringes onto the edge of one of the busiest and noisiest road roundabouts in Cornwall for the last four nights and then he emerges back into the field regardless of traffic every morning without bating an eyelid.

On arrival he usually stops for a bit of a wash and brush up just in case he happens to meet  'One of his girls '  Then goes off to patrol the Hedgerow boundary checking for their scent.

Boundaries checked for females and it must be time for breakfast and it is always a treat to watch a relaxed deer feeding along the browse line of a hedgerow.

Breakfast over and he disappears off into the substantial woodlands bordering the field to look for the females and this is the area that I would have expected him to hunker down in the first place.

So I guess that wildlife is a bit like people when it comes to behaviour and perhaps :

We should always expect the unexpected !!

Millpool Wildlife

ON LAND

A chilled out fox cub relaxing in the middle of the lane access to the Millpool and below a fine young buck Roe Deer feeds on grasses as it works its way through local fields looking for female deer.

A resident male Pheasant patrolling his patch in the field adjacent to the pool,

ON AND IN THE WATER

A Water Lilly reflects nicely on the still surface water off the pool.

A two foot long 15 lb + wild common carp cruises between the wed beds with its dorsal fin projecting though the surface water.

An adult Moorhen finds a floating dog biscuit on the surface that has come off our hook when used as bait for Silver fish and Perch bait.

A Female Emperor Dragonfly lays her eggs on surface floating pond weed

AND IN THE AIR.

The male Emperor that the above female has just mated with lands to take a rare break from seeking out females and fighting off rival males,

A pair of mating Broad bodied Chasers hang in the air from a dried reed stem to complete their mating cycle.

A pair of Narrow -winged Damselflies hooked up and mating in the morning sunlight.

And finally a female Broad-winged Damselfly also known as a damoiselle takes a break on a fresh green Hazel leaf.

Longrock Buck Roe Deer

On my way along the south coast early this morning I called in at Longrock and was pleased to see a nice Buck Roe Deer on the look out for the local Doe's

The sad thing was that there weren't any and the last one that I saw was dead on the local roads.

The fearless Buck created a little behaviour humour though as it sparred up to a mature rabbit and bottled out when the rabbit charged him !

Having taken several mouthfuls of fresh grass the buck eventually wandered off in the direction of Marazion Marsh perhaps hoping to find some females in that area,

The light levels were challenging throughout this encounter and the images not of the best quality but I just love to see these animals during the early morning and every now and again the light can be very good when they show.

Buck Roe Deer

I came across the same Buck Roe Deer this morning that I saw a few mornings ago when he was chasing around after a couple of females in Longrock woods,

Weather conditions were overcast and quite dark and the buck still held ninety percent of his grey winter coat which blended him into the hedgerow colouration but didn't help me very much when trying to find good contrast to compensate for the low light,

In the image directly below he had pick up on the scent and moved off again constantly tasting the air as he tried to find the females,

He checked out all of the long grass areas where the females retreat too lay down but no joy so on he went again.

He eventually stopped to recharge his batteries with a little foraging along a hedgerow browse line and it was at this point that I left the Buck as I was now already running late for a prearranged pick -up

Alls well that ends well

I arrived at the Longrock Deer fields a little early so I decided to have a nice cup of tea before starting,  I had left my flask at home,   So I decided to assemble my kit prior to moving in to position,  My 500mm lens tripod mount  had stripped its mounting  plate screws,   I crossed the road thinking that I could manage hand holding just in time to watch four doe Roe Deer rear ends disappearing into a misty hollow never to be seen again,  I decided to wait and see if the mist cleared when out of the gloom came a fine young Roe Deer buck that also seemed to be looking for the doe,

The buck walked on towards me and as the mist rolled away and light levels began to improve it started to feed from the lush meadow grasses  but not without my shutter noise catching his attention

I took a few more single shots anyway thinking that he would not be around for long

As the buck turned away from me I could see by his rear posture that his testosterone levels were running high which was a good sign as mating shots were just what I am looking for at the moment

So watch this space through the next couple of weeks for possible Roe Deer mating images subject to me successfully repairing my lens mounting bracket  Hand holding a 500mm prime lens is just not for me !!

Road Kill Roe Deer

Early on Sunday morning I spent some time at Longrock watching one of the local Buck Roe Deer doing the rounds on the look-out for resident Does, so sightings are quite by chance and appreciated when they do occur,  This particular encounter only lasted as long as it took the buck to walk the hedgerow to one corner of the field where it effortlessly cleared the hedgerow and wire fence to disappear into the adjoining woodland.

Early on Monday morning I saw this Buck again but this time I was far from Happy to see it for as drove down the A394 towards Longrock early AM  I caught sight of it lying dead at the roadside,  On inspection it had obviously been the victim of a road traffic accident, probably having strayed on to the road during the night while moving from one area to another,  You cannot fence such animals in but I was upset to see such a fine example of our local wildlife that I had worked with the previous day fall victim to such an end,  I lifted the deer off of the road and laid it to rest in some long roadside grasses so as to avoid any further damage or unwanted attention,  I guess natural predators will do the rest.

Roadside image taken by Peter Tonkin

Focus on a buck Roe Deer

Focus on a Buck Roe Deer,
This morning was a far brighter morning than yesterday so I called in at Longrock deer field on my way to Marazion marsh for a change of scene,  There were seven deer out grazing on the lush grass,  One buck and six does that all looked fine with the early morning glow shining on their coats,  After taking a few shots I moved on to the marsh to watch the sun rise over the reed beds with lazy morning mist filtering through them forming a lovely setting perhaps for an Otter to swim or a Purple Heron to fly over but not this morning,  I whiled away an hour or so working on amongst other things young bunnies and wall snails ( check out the following blog ) then returned past the deer field again on my way back to my car in glorious sunshine,  The fine young buck featured below was still out grazing in the field close to Newtown lane hedgerow so I reset my kit and snapped away recording its movements for around thirty minutes,

It was grazing while working its way towards me looking very nice with its fur covered new horns and most of its summer coat nearly complete

I smiled when as I took my first frame as he looked up and stamped his feet at the sound of my shutter firing but he could not see me behind the hedgerow

He settled back to grazing and I took the rest of these images in sequence with passing cars so as not to disturb him further and eventually headed for home leaving him in peace