Looking up from photographing a large skipper, the roe deer buck was only a matter of yards away regarding me curiously. For a while we stood and watched each other before it wandered away towards the allotments in a very relaxed way. I was able to take photographs of it merging into the long grass as it stared at me, and then a few more as it walked away. What an absolute privilege. I am used to seeing roe deer in the woodland burial ground but this is the first I have seen out in the field. I often see their slots around the woodland burial ground, especially in winter when the ground is soft and have seen individuals and one buck with two does together. A few weeks ago I had close views of a buck in the main cemetery but it had an injured eye; I wondered if it had been fighting.
Roe are slender, medium sized deer and have no tail. Mainly brown they turn reddish in summer. They are our most common deer and tend to be solitary in summer, but form small groups in winter which is when I have seen up to three at a time. The males have short antlers which begin to grow in November. They shed the velvety covering in spring and by summer are ready for the rutting season. After mating, they shed their antlers in October and begin to grow a new set.
Roe deer live in areas of mixed countryside that includes woodland, farmland, grassland and heathland. Food comprises buds, leaves, ferns and grasses.
I had followed my usual route into the cemetery and out to Gooseman's field crossing the drain first. I search both sides of a large bramble hedge as I arrive; it is a good location for both birds and butterflies. After searching both sides of the middle hedge I make way way behind the allotments to the cemetery for a lap around the woodland burial ground and home. The Horsefield or Gooseman's Field is best for meadow and grassland butterfly species while the burial ground is better for woodland ones. Where the horses have been grazed on the Horsefield, both yellow rattle, essential for a wild-flower meadow, and birdsfoot trefoil proliferate. Birdsfoot trefoil is the food plant for the larvae of common blue butterflies and I feel that they ought to be more common here than they are. Surprisingly, in late summer and early Autumn, the woodland burial ground is good for common darter and occasionally large dragonflies.
To view large, please click on an image.
No comments:
Post a Comment