Out walking around the Patch recently, I came across the Roe Deer buck. Roe deer are one of Britain's native deer species and have become the most widespread. They became largely extinct in the 1700s and were only later reintroduced. Before 1960 they were treated as vermin owing to the damage they cause to the forestry industry. Unlike other deer, they do not live in herds, but are most often seen as solitary individuals or as a family group of a mother and her offspring. Does gives birth to one to three fawns in May or June. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Roe_Deer accessed 12/8/2011)
They are notoriously difficult to get close to but as the weeks have gone by I feel that this particular buck has got used to seeing me as I wander around the area. I was able to walk towards him without him running, as you can see from the photographs he was well aware of my presence. The rutting season is between mid July and the end of August and there was a female just behind the hedge, she was far more skittish and ran off for cover before I could get a picture. They were both looking in the peak of condition. The juvenile willow warbler was seen on the same morning and compared nicely to the chiff chaff that was in the same piece of hedgerow, the chiff chaff was displaying the downward tail with the characteristic “bob”. The black arches moth has been included because I like the way it looks like a sheep’s face with horns!
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