Early Summer Roe Deer Project 2019

Don't miss my roe deer projects from 2020 and 2021.

23rd May 2019: I was so pleased with the images from my first visit, that I could easily have finished the project in one evening. Temperatures were a good seven degrees warmer inland, reaching 23°C and the Roe deer were just shedding the last of their thick winter coats. Grass height was still short enough to allow the easy observation of these small deer. The three babies from last year survived the winter; two bucks and one doe. The young buck was quite tolerant of me. When people wandered through the field, the buck went and hovered about the perimeter until they disappeared before returning to grazing on buttercups. Two adult does were present, but neither were pregnant. An adult buck accompanied one of the does. Possibly mistaking her availability, the buck chased the doe around the field in an unusually early display of courtship. My theory is that the doe is infertile, as she was not pregnant in 2018 either. 

To avoid being bitten by pest insects, particularly ticks, I brought along a 95% Deet spray, which lasted the entire visit without reapplication. To further minimise contact with the ground, provide comfort and keep a low profile, I used a foldable camping stool for the first time. It took just 12 minutes to reach the meadow from the mainline railway station on my electric bike, avoiding the need to waste time at poorly served stops. I used to walk all the way back to the station and would routinely get home at midnight or later. Biking saves me about 2 hours.

 

27th May 2019: Two visits to this site are never the same and as expected, opportunities were far more limited than last week. The yearling buck has a brother accompanying him, but curiously, he is still in his winter coat and velvet. Yearlings can sometimes be late to shed, due to lower testosterone levels, but the phenomenon can occur in all ages from testicular injury. The young buck seemed energetic enough, but he is much more skittish and watchful than his more laid-back sibling.  

It was lovely to spot a pregnant Roe deer in the fields and I look forward to seeing her kids when they are born. She is a very gentle and tolerant doe, who I first saw in 2015, but her absence last year led me to believe she had died. If you look back at my collection on Flickr, you'll see her at various points.

It was not so lovely having a punctured rear tyre, but fortunately this incident happened close to the railway station, so I could get back to Brighton and push my bike home. This was my second puncture in 6 months and I can see myself at some point being stranded in the dark several miles from the railway station. Decathlon helped me find new tyres with a very high puncture resistance (Vittoria Randonneur), as the extra weight of the e-bike and my camera equipment increases the chance of objects piercing the tread area.

30th May 2019: I was delighted to find the doe I photographed last year had survived the winter. Like many does in the meadow, she is apparently not pregnant this year, but her twin kids born in June 2018 are alive and well (the yearling buck with a single antler and his brother still in velvet).

There are two older bucks occupying the meadow. One can be seen leaping through the air. The second was initially nervous and vocal, but he is gradually getting used to my presence, has ceased barking and will graze without bolting. There is no sign, as yet, of the two bucks from 2018 — I'm hoping that the 'Paul Newman' of the meadow and a second buck with huge antlers are alive and well. Their well-developed antlers may, however, have attracted the unwelcome attention of trophy hunters from the death industry.

31st May 2019: What initially felt like a piece of wood underfoot turned out to be three-pointed antler dropped by a Roe buck last autumn — my first antler find in eight years of photographing Roe deer. Decreasing levels of testosterone in October cause antlers to drop from the pedicles. A scab forms within a few hours and over the coming days, a network of blood vessels begin providing nutrients to newly forming antlers under a covering of velvet. Increasing levels of testosterone cut off the blood supply in April, causing the velvet to dry out and shed, revealing fully developed antlers.  

Roe deer antlers are available to purchase online, but they are usually sawn off culled bucks and therefore I would discourage anyone from financially supporting the death industry. The UK rural death industry divides the animal kingdom into two categories: game and vermin. The process of killing animals and birds is further divided along class lines. The upper and upper-middle classes pay to kill game, while the working classes are paid by the ruling classes to eradicate vermin. Any person who participates in the torture and/or killing of birds and animals for enjoyment (in the absence of any survival need) is by definition not psychologically normal. I would include within this definition, anyone who can view a healthy Roe through rifle sights and calmly pull the trigger with the same emotional detachment as someone stirring a pan of beans. There is ample video evidence of hunters and their supporters demonstrating their lack of empathy and predisposition to violence by assaulting, intimidating and bullying those who challenge their behaviour. Since much of the UK is owned by a small number of people, the issue is less about the often cited 'urban versus rural' and more about the inability of the ruling classes to abide any serious challenge to their power. The recent bullying and harassment of TV presenter Chris Packham is a good example of why people are afraid to speak out.

I had a lovely session with the now tolerant mature Roe deer buck in a more wooded part of the meadow,  where there is plenty of cover to observe deer, without making them feel too exposed. I often wonder what the deer make of me. They have no idea that the tall, two-legged animal appearing in evening wants to show the world what wonderful animals they are. I'm sure there are quite a few pictures in this buck before my project is finished.

Earlier this year, I replaced my ageing 21 megapixel Canon EOS-1Ds MKIII with the 30.4 megapixel Canon EOS 5D MKIV. The resolution improvement is not lost on me. Most Roe deer images from the old camera were cropped to 10 - 12 megapixels. The average resolution on this current project is 15.2 megapixels, with six at 17 - 23 megapixels. Even crops from fairly distant animals come in at a healthy 10 megapixel resolution. The quieter shutter does not alert the deer, allowing them to approach within a working distance before they hear the clicking. Finally, better high ISO performance allows shooting in low light with minimal sacrifice of image quality.

3rd/4th June 2019: The only way for me to see the deer in early morning is to stay there overnight. Despite having a tent, pillow and inflatable mattress, I found the night uncomfortable, due to heavy condensation and a general inability to sleep on anything other than a very soft bed. I watched bats gliding about as I ate my breakfast. I've never seen a person walking their dog at 04:50 before, but that person has probably never seen a photographer at that time either.

I am so used to seeing the meadows in evening sunshine, that the misty, dewy landscape came over as eerie and almost unrecognisable in very early morning. Every area has its own unique ambient sounds and the most distinctive were the Muslim call to prayer and Cockerels crowing. Here is how I captured the mature buck at 05:26, pausing to look back at the camera. I think it's a very pleasing shot of this once very vocal and melodramatic buck.

6th June 2019: My final visit to the meadows ended with the once vocal and skittish yearling buck looking much more relaxed, as he ate buttercups with me standing in open view just 30 metres away. When a Roe deer turns his back on you, take it as a compliment! The intuitive approach of sneaking up on Roe using cover only puts them on high alert for predatory behaviour. A much more effective stalking technique is to allow the deer to get used to my presence in open space. They won't waste energy bolting, when all they see is a figure standing/sitting still, making clicking noises. Notice that he is finally shedding his winter coat. I would expect the velvet around his antlers to shed next month. His brother, who is in better condition, has disappeared, possibly seeking mating territory elsewhere.

I've been very privileged to observe and photograph these wild animals, who have accepted me after initial wariness. They live in a rare viable habitat, that hasn't been eradicated in the name of agriculture and profit. But, despite my experience of carefully observing Roe, I am a source of interference and their needs must always come first. Although deer are not visible in daylight hours, they are always close by, watching the activities of regular visitors. It's now time to leave them alone. I'm sorry not to have seen any kids. There may have been pregnant does, but if there were, they did a very good job of hiding their babies in the long grass, out of harm's way.

I hope you've enjoyed looking at my photos as much as I enjoyed taking them. The photo essay is a dying art, so please leave a comment to encourage more projects like this. Next up are the butterflies, when I hope to capture the rare Purple Emperor, so keep your eyes peeled. It's now time for me to open a few beers, relax and attend to other things.

20th - 23rd June 2019: I had not planned to visit the meadow again this summer, but I wanted to make up for the disappointing June weather. The days go on forever at this time of year and we should be spending most of our time enjoying the outdoors. Temperatures on my visits were in the mid-20s, with high humidity and overcast skies.

A mature Roe buck entered the meadow to claim territory during my two week absence, which also saw days of heavy rain, thunderstorms and local flooding. The rock hard soil became boggy, with pools of water forcing deer to find alternative spots to hide away. The field always attracts mature bucks, as it contains nutritious wildflowers and low hanging oak leaves, along with plenty of cover. The field is less prone to flooding due to an incline and better drainage.

The buck is in his prime, with huge antlers. I saw him once before, on May 30th 2016. Dominant bucks like to bark continually, while grazing and rubbing antlers on tall thistles and this deer was no exception. The other mature buck has much smaller antlers and would do well not to get into a physical fight with him. He does, however, chase smaller, younger bucks for territorial purposes, including one of the yearlings from 2018 (who is now in his summer coat). Within 20 minutes of being chased, the yearling comes straight back to the spot where he was pursued, as the wildflowers are worth the risk of being on the wrong side of the older buck's aggression. 

The doe seen paired with a buck on 23rd May now resides in a neighbouring field. I have not managed to spot any of her kids and as such, she may not have even given birth this year. The buck had a habit of chasing her around the field for sexual purposes and since this occurred outside of the rutting season, the unwanted sexual behaviour perhaps explains why she has moved.

26th June 2019: I spent the afternoon photographing butterflies at another site in West Sussex, before switching to Roe deer at 19:45, just at the time one would expect to begin seeing them in late June. Two sets of small and large hoof prints along a known route led to me a doe and her kid at the entrance to a field. At first, I puzzled at why the doe remained in situ, but the presence of her kid (sadly the tiny deer was obscured by grass)  meant she could not bolt. The deer at this site are fairly tolerant and she is possibly not one for bolting. I've coined the term roemainer for any Roe deer that remains to be photographed, while showing little or no alarm towards the observer. I encountered another roemainer in a neighbouring field, a young buck with no antlers, despite having two pedicles.

Keywords: wildlifephotography deer naturephotography canon 500mm brighton sussex wildlife climateemergency globalwarming globalheating extinction extinctionrebellion