After two weeks away, I went out a couple of times to catch up on the deer. Unfortunately, and a little worryingly, there was not a single one to be seen. I usually see one, even if it is just running away!
I decided to put the trail cameras out for a few days to see if they picked anything up and to my relief they did. It also seems there is a buck and a doe travelling around together (watch the end of the video). If they’re together now it’s likely they will mate in the coming months.
After seeing the trail camera footage, I went out the next morning to the area where a camera had been. After about 15 minutes I spotted a doe, but it was a little too far for a good photo, but even more so, it was partly hidden by tall ferns and branches. It’s getting much more difficult to see and photo deer in the woodlands now due to the incredible growth of all the vegetation. However, shortly after a buck appeared from around some bushes, so I did get a photo of him. More importantly though was seeing them for myself, rather than just on a trail camera.
There have been a couple of good bird photo opportunities too. There’s a spot where I’ve seen one or two treecreepers several times and one morning they were pretty close. You have to be quick though as they don’t tend to keep still – always moving up the tree trunk.
Whilst standing still for a minute a couple of wrens landed close by. Being so small, it’s good to be close to get a decent photo. This one was very oblliging!
A final note – I did also see a fox when I took the header photo of the roe buck; but it saw me first, so it just ran off!
