The picture is a bit of a giveaway that this isn’t my usual, local haunt. These are Fallow Dear in Dunham Massey.
I much prefer seeing deer (and most animals) where I can, in a wild, natural habitat. It’s not as though these in the deer park don’t roam free, but they are essentially fenced in; and they are used to people wandering close by. This is obviously an advantage if you want to get close and it’s a very popular place, especially during the rutting season. So yes, lots of people, myself included, head to the deer parks even more so around October/November.
This particular visit was the first time I’d been to Dunham Massey in years. The weather forecast was good; a nice sunny morning was promised, so it seemed a good time to go. I was there just before sunrise and there were very few other people around (which was good). There were mostly photographers or joggers.
There were two stags walking around very close together and making a rather loud, threatening noise. I decided I probably shouldn’t get too close; just in case they didn’t take too kindly to me whilst they were about to establish who was king of that territory. What made me laugh though, was whilst I was practically hiding behind a tree, a female jogger was running up toward where the stags were about to emerge onto a track. I watched hoping they wouldn’t turn on her, but she didn’t care one bit. She actually ran in-between the two of them; and they didn’t seem to care either. It did make me feel a bit of a wimp. Hiding behind a tree! But hey! Better safe than sorry.
I didn’t get any great photos of them having a rut unfortunately, but there is a photo below of them having a go at each other. Also, there were two young ones having a playful rut, which was rather cute to watch.
