Ashridge Hertfordshire - Landscape change 2011 & 2017

On a walk around Ashridge at the end of March I took this photograph of the Fallow Deer with an old dead fallen tree (an Oak?) in the background.  I wasn't sure I had seen it on the ground before...

 

...and looking through my old photos, I came across a series of images that I took in July 2011 with this same tree standing in the background.  It looks like it had been dead for some years and I suppose it was only a matter of time before it fell.

With gradual changes to the landscape (mainly man-made) often not remembered over the years, and be it only a slight change in the landscape, this is a record of nature changing the view.

Ashridge: Fallow Deer on a Misty November Afternoon

A walk in Ashridge in the afternoon in November a few days ago when the morning mist had not cleared completely.

 

The main rut was over with only a few bucks with the beautiful full antlers.  However this less mature buck was on the edge of the herd of deer hoping for some luck.

 

An old hand in the thickening mist.

 

The beautiful autumn colours earlier....

 

.....becoming hidden and muted as the mist appeared and the sun went down.

 

The mature buck on his stand calling with his deep throaty growl.

 

A strange silhouette

 

The herd were beginning to disappear into the mist and darkening light as we left.  The photo is a bit grainy (as nearly all were due to the light levels)

Woburn - Red and Fallow Deer

An evening's drive through Woburn Park this week.  If only these animals were truly wild, I would have been really pleased with these  photographs.

The Red Deer's antlers are in velvet.  An impressive number of antler points on the stag at the back.

Whilst most of the stags were in a loose herd, this stag was on his own. He had lost the velvet on the antlers, presumably by rubbing them through the grass or against trees.  I didn't see any others in the same condition. If it had been the Autumn, I would have thought it was the beginning of the rut.  Perhaps it is the poor summer temperatures that have confused him?

A young Red Deer, I think showing signs of his first year's antlers.

Fallow Deer in the parkland, with their beautiful spotted summer coats.  I suspect that the fallow deer at Woburn have been selectively culled over the years to avoid the darker melanistic coats that predominate at Ashridge and seen in the countryside.

An unusual Fallow Deer birth! I can assure you no photoshop used for the head.

Ivinghoe Beacon - Fallow Deer - Doe and Her Fawn Reunited

At this time last year we were sitting on the side of Ivinghoe Beacon on a cloudy evening watching and listening to nature go by....

....When we noticed a Doe Fallow Deer in the edge of the wheat field below.  It was looking intently into the middle of the field.   I took a couple of photos through the telephoto.

Not much photographic interest here unless the deer turns round.  So I put the camera down and watch if she turns to face me.  What I didn't notice until I got home was that in the second photograph was a fawn in the top right running through the wheat towards the Doe.  Presumably, the doe had been calling for her fawn which would have been laying up hidden in the field during the day, but we were too far away to hear.

Noticing the deer turning towards us, I pick up the camera to discover a fawn's head in the viewfinder. Reunited with the fawn, the doe notices us.....







...and they both dash away for safety, the fawn almost disappearing, with every leap,... 

...yet travelling surprisingly fast until we could no longer see them as they moved into the scrub at the corner of the field.



I am hoping to get a repeat of this scene this year, but to date no luck.













Fallow Deer Coat Variations - During the April Moult

Some photographs showing Fallow Deer Does losing their winter coat on the Ashridge Estate.  These deer are wild and not fenced in, and are not owned by the estate.  They can be seen regularly in the farmers' fields that border the forest.

A leucistic (white not albino) doe...



... whilst the darker melanistic deer shows a darker, almost black coat emerging from under their moulting coat.



Part of the herd with 2 leucistic deer and a flock of Wood Pigeons in the tree beyond.









Fallow Deer Bucks at Dusk - Ashridge

Fallow Deer on the skyline at dusk yesterday evening

Summer Fallow Deer in Ashridge

Photographs of Fallow Deer in Ashridge taken in July 2010

A fawn in the summer grass

The deer were agitated by something in the corner of the field all afternoon. Perhaps a loose dog earlier. This shot shows the range in colours from the dark melanistic coat to the lighter coat.
A few have now spotted me.

Later this doe with three fawns decided to make a break for it...

......with this single fawn following ten seconds later.

I do not know if the fallow deer operate a creche system, but there seems to be some evidence here.

Bucks chasing Doe at Ashridge

This weekend in the diminishing light of dusk a pair of Fallow Deer Bucks have singled out this Doe and are chasing her....

...can she get away?....
...more trouble...
...But the sight of the large stationary buck she has run towards stops one buck dead in his tracks.
I suspect it was a not a deliberate ploy on the doe's part. She continued running and circled round to join the group of does she had been broken out of, leaving all three rutting bucks frustrated.

Ashridge Fallow Deer Rut

The Fallow Deer Rut has been going on for 4 weeks and is now in full swing with at least a dozen bucks in the ancient deer field at Ashridge.

10 days ago, a Buck with a fine set of Palmate antlers in a hurry.
He already appears to have some battle damage on his flank.

He reaches a small group of does with two bucks in attendance.
This weekend the stags were still rutting hard. Activity increases towards dusk. This buck is having words with a young year old male deer with the begining of antlers called a prickett and also trying to keep his does in check.

Patience and hard work pay off with a buck mounting a doe just before dusk.
The other does are keeping their options open by sitting around!

The Rut at Ashridge

The 2011 rut had just started in Ashridge by the first weekend in October. Unfortunately the bucks throaty groaning and other rutting behaviour did not start until the light had gone and all photographs taken were poor.

However, this second October weekend, the bucks were already exhibiting full rutting behaviour when we arrived mid-afternoon, including parallel running developing into the classic palmate antler to palmate antler challenges.

Despite the dull weather and the distance to the deer I did manage a couple of photographs. This buck was on the edge of the main rutting area.
The main rutting area with 2 stags, sorry Fallow deer males are Bucks, calling. At least 7 bucks were in the surrounding area, all trying to attract the females.

I hope to take some photographs of the full range of behaviour by the time the rut ends towards the end of the month.

Ashridge Misty Dusk

An early evening's walk yesterday around one of the open deer fields in Ashridge following rain earlier in the afternoon. The light was not good and the deer were not close.

Initially the only special interest was in 2 young fallow deer bucks sparing, a little one-sided contest with one being a yearling with little antler growth. The deer rut itself is at least a month and half away at least.

The light improved a bit as the clouds started to break. At the same time a beautiful mist rose, initially only covering a few areas, leaving the deer standing out above the mist

Senior bucks with palmate antlers, unlike the young bucks that were sparring

In the gloom, with the camera pushed to its limit, leaving a grainier photo than would be preferred.

Fallow Deer Coat Variations

The Ashridge Estate is the home to a large number of Fallow Deer. The majority of the deer that I have observed are melanistic, having a dark, almost black coat, rather than the classic light brown with white spots.

This melanistic male (called a Buck, rather than a Stag apparently) was photographed in October 2010 during the rut.

The ancient clearings within the forest remain, which gives a good opportunity to photograph the deer in the light without the trees getting in the way.

An individual young buck has extremely light colouring

Running away with melanistic members of the young bucks group

This poor photograph is the only one I have of a white buck seen very occasionally in 2009, and not seen since.