The Red deer Year : August

Pesky Flies and Bloodstained Velvet During early August most mature red deer stags will have completed regrowth of their antlers. The protective highly vascular velvety skin that supplied oxygen and nutrients to the growing bone over the past months now starts to dry out and decay, attracting numerous flies. Stags may become more difficult to…

Red deer in English suburbs: not an Urban Myth

As some red deer as well as fallow deer adapt to living amongst us in urban areas – can we too adapt to accommodate some of our largest terrestrial mammals living on our doorstep? Some 40 years ago, when I began to undertake research into the behaviour and ecology of Britain’s deer, residents in the…

Why Deer Road Kill peaks in May & Autumn

MAY is the PEAK MONTH for deer road casualties and related vehicle collisions across Great Britain. Over 10,000 deer are likely to be hit in May alone – that’s close to twice as many as in any other single month and makes up near 15% of the annual toll of between 60,000 to 74,000 GB…

Fallow Deer Rut Behavioural Traits – Photo Blog

In Britain the peak period for fallow deer mating activity, the ‘rut’, usually occurs between early October to early November. The fallow rut can provide a fascinating spectacle including a wide array of ritualised displays and fighting behaviour. Having spent two full days filming and photographing the rut in October 2022, this photo blog shows…

Robin Red Breast’s Shed Nest

From incubation to fledging Week 1 : Incubation Searching for some multi-purpose filler in our rather untidy shed last week, I found rather more than I had bargained for! Just as I was about to reach for the tub I was looking for, much to my surprise I saw it was propping up a bird’s…

How did the red deer cross the road ?

VLog on filming Red deer crossing the busy A39 road in Somerset, and often casual nature deer cross roads , not least post Lockdown leading to many near misses and collisions.

Velvet Stags and Spotted Calves

The Red deer Year: July Velvet Stags and Spotted Calves. In July wild red deer stags are at their most tolerant of each other. Many will join all-male bachelor groups, commonly 5 to 15 strong, though occasionally – as in the video clip below – much larger aggregations may be seen. Meanwhile, young red deer…

The amazing rate of antler growth

The amazing rate of antler growth The spectacular rate at which red deer antlers regrow year on year never ceases to amaze and fascinate me.  From 2014 to 2018 I was fortunate enough to observe and film two particular wild Exmoor stags closely, using a number of wildlife trail cameras that I set up at…

Rudolph caught on trail camera

Rudolph caught on trail camera by Christmas lights on edge of Exmoor, then poses for the houseowner to take photos, before raiding their bird feeders! Having followed one particular magnificent Exmoor stag for several years, which had taken to visiting various gardens on the edge of town, I set up several remote wildlife cameras to get…

One sunny November morning on Exmoor

Not allowing myself to be put off by first having to scrape ice from the car windows at 6.30 am, and heading up onto the moors last Wednesday morning was definitely my best decision of that week. Better still, when later on I found that most other folk seemed to have stayed in bed, leaving…

Wild Exmoor stag learns to use antlers as tools

The wily Exmoor stag that learned to use his antlers as tools When researching and filming red deer in the urban fringe over the past two years (see my previous blog) one particular stag always stood out for his intelligence, dexterity and constant twinkle in his eye ! In one video clip featured widely on…

How far do red deer stags migrate to rut

When watching the spectacle of the wild red deer rut, have you too at times wondered just how far each of the different stags that turn up at the rutting grounds have travelled in their search for females and  to establish a harem to defend? Outside of the mating season wild red deer stags tend…

Bambi: “Look how I’ve grown”

In early June this year during a walk on the edge of Exmoor I was thrilled to stumble across a newly born deer calf lying up concealed among nettles and brambles. Most deer calves hide up quietly on their own for much of the day during the first few weeks of life, and the mother returns…

How do deer cross Britain’s busiest motorway ?

Despite our ever-increasing human population, expanding road networks and urban sprawl, deer have adapted to living within major cities including the like of Sheffield, Edinburgh, and Southampton. Even more surprising is the number of deer that now inhabit London Boroughs inside the M25 orbital motorway- one of Europe’s busiest roads. How they manage to avoid…