|
Red deer - from Nigel Merriam |
|
Written by Sue Merriam
|
|
Back in May I was astonished to see a large herd of red deer grazing my barley on a field bordering Clay Street and the Swan Lane track. I counted 23 in all. Three full grown stags, five young bucks, 4 pregnant hinds and lots of yearling fawns.
I rushed home and went back with my camera and managed to cut them off
before they got into "A" Wood. I was able to photo them, but the photos
of the full herd were somewhat distant. Researching deer I see that
they do tend to herd together just prior to the hinds giving birth in
late May/early June. It is only about 10 years ago since I saw my first
reds in the area. Since then they have been more and more in evidence.
A couple of years ago, early one morning, I saw two stags, with their
antlers locked, I got withing 20 yards of them and they were so
engrossed in their combat that they ignored me completely. The
Fallow,Roe and Muntjac are still about, but the reds are so majestic. I
recently spoke to an expert from the UEA, who told me that there are
more wild deer in Britain now than there have been since the time of
the cave man.Now that is called conservation! I will attempt to upload
some of the photos. Nigel Merriam
|
