If you go down to the woods today....in Bushy park in London that is...you may well come across Britain's largest land mammal; the Red Deer. Male red deer are called stags, females hinds and the young calves.
Red deer are a distinctive rusty red colour in summer turning to a reddish brown or all brown winter coat.
The stag’s antlers are the species most distinguishing feature. They are highly branched and the branches increase with age with multiple points on each antler. t`heses drop off during March/April and begin to regrow to be fully formed and clear of velvet in August/September.
This one, shot on the 11th October is calling to his females and about to do battle to keep them...
Red deer are a native species having migrated to Britain from Europe 11,000 years ago. They were used extensively by Mesolithic man as a source of food, skins, and tools (bones and antlers). However, man has cleared swathes of forest to make way for fields and this loss of forest encouraged the decline of red deer populations, which became confined to the Scottish Highlands, south-west England and a few other small, scattered populations, but woodland cover increase since the early 20th century, mean that red deer are now widely distributed and are expanding in range and number.
This one has been in the mud
And to you too....
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