Monday 7 January 2008

Cold, damp and wild in Richmond Park 5- # 346

Walking from the valley, up through the woods we come out on the high plateau. As we come out of the trees we notice.......a large group of red deer stags perfectly camouflaged, their antlers looking like dead wood sticking up among the bracken.

In October the stags were fighting and staking out their piece of ground and guarding their group of ladies. Now, the stags all bunch together in male harmony, and the ladies, likewise, browse in female groups.

To answer a couple of questions;

@Peter yesterday.....they generally move away if you get closer than 50 meters, so they are not so easy to photograph nicely with a standard camera.

@Freefalling.....the deer don't attack, but if dogs or people annoy them they do become dangerously aggressive, especially the stags. In October the stags are very agressive.

Camera: Olympus E3 at about 200mm hand-held, 1/320 sec, f4.0. Auto WB.

6 comments:

  1. And who would have thought. You know how you hear someone on the phone for years and form an idea in your head about who they are and how they look and then you meet them for the first time and they ain't like that?

    You should change your profile picture. I really had you pictured as a beer truck driver all of this time. And here you are a completely different person with a wide range of knowledge about things like stags and red deer and photography. I am speechless.

    I still think the deer in this picture pulled one over on you and hid.

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  2. Really is quite an unusual photo - especially when seen at full size

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  3. Awesome photo. The deer camouflaged themselves very well in the woods. Amazing stuff.

    Errr....did someone get a new camera for Christmas this year?

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  4. I love this photo.
    I like how the pattern repeats itself.
    The dry, crispy bracken (it is bracken, right?), the sparseness of the antlers and the bare trees.
    Plus, I think that guy on the left is eye-balling you.

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  5. Great photo - makes me smile!!!

    That's not all that made me smile today - I always thought of you as a well educated, sensitive, artistic person who likes driving trucks!!!

    Oh by the way - Happy Birthday!!!

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  6. Hi Chuckeroon, a belated Happy Birthday to you!

    I'm liking the new format of your site...cleaner, and with bigger pictures...nice!

    ps - you can catch me at rizdin(at)gmail.com.

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