I went out for a late afternoon stroll, not to my usual haunt, but still somewhere I have seen deer and fox previously. I spotted something in the distance and looking through my telephoto lens I saw there was a deer. I did manage to get a little closer (the photos aren’t the best quality as the deer was a fair distance away) and watch it. After a few minutes I noticed movement in some long grass near to the deer I was watching, and yes, there was another deer. So, two deer; that’s nice. But wait! A few minutes later and what did I see? A third deer appears out of the trees. Even nicer! But hold on! Really? Four deer? I had to check I wasn’t double counting, but no, there were four deer; three roe and a buck; all young by the looks of it. How lucky was I!
I was watching them wander around part of the field, without them going too far away from the shelter of the trees, for about 20 minutes. I think they knew I was there, or at least one of them did. But they didn’t sense any danger and I was far enough away.
An amazing result on the trail camera
I left my trail camera out for a couple of nights, in a very, very secret location. I was hoping to see that the badgers were still there, but I got more than that. When I looked at the video and image files, not only was I very happy to see the badgers, but there was also a fox and an owl too. What a fantastic result!
Have a look at the short video aside to see them all.
no hare - just grouse
Earlier in the week I went out first thing in the morning with the hope of seeing mountain hare. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be on this occasion. One thing that hindered the plan was the weather (never trust the BBC!). It was lovely at first, the sun creeping over the hills, but after half an hour the clouds rolled in and visibility was very poor; so not worth continuing the search for hare. The only thing around was grouse!
Anyway, better luck next time I hope.