Oh Deer!

I ticked off another item on my invisible 'Bucket List' the other weekend!  I went on a Deer Walk.

That might sound very boring, but in the UK at this time of the year the 'rut' is going on in herds of deer and I have never seen it before.  I have seen it on nature programmes on TV but never live, so this is what we were going to see.  I was excited!!

We met in Bradgate Park in Leicestershire and for our morning walk we walked up to 'Old John' which was quite hard going, passing the remains of the Elizabethan house which was the ancestral home of Lady Jane Grey, who was Queen for 9 days, before being executed. 

The little 'huts' are litter bins!!

 

Old John with the war memorial on the left of the photo

After a short break and a look at the 'map'

we walked over to the War Memorial and so back to the start for lunch, passing some very old, but still living mainly oak trees.

A legend says that when Lady Jane Grey was executed the tops of all the trees in the park were cut off and there are some very old and gnarled ones.

A Ranger joined us in the afternoon and we went into the private deer sanctuary hearing the 'bellowing' of the stags all the time, as indeed we had in the morning as well.  Luck was on our side though and in a clearing in the woods we came on a small group of Fallow Deer Does with their Buck (Fallow Deer have bucks and does, Red Deer have stags and hinds) who was a splendid example.

Fallow Deer have palmate horns

I should apologise for the standard of photography.  They were in dappled woodland and at a distance.

A very noisy buck

There was a buck close by who was making our buck very worried protecting his 'girls'.  Eventually there was nothing more than to lock horns and fight it out.

The interloper ran off and our 'Buck' had his wicked way with one of his females - and though I managed a very blurry photo as proof, I am not putting it on here!!

Meanwhile there were some Red Deer close by with a huge stag in charge, but unfortunately I couldn't close enough to get a good photo before he ran off.  I did get this one of a young adult and a doe, with Fallow Deer on the left.

Nearly a 'Monarch of the Glen'

We were able to get close to our Fallow Deer as the buck was more concerned about his rivals than us!

A wonderful walk.

A quick update on the parking area that was finished after 3.5 days and I am really pleased with it. 

Now to tidy up the garden!!

The Mini Mania for October has finished and it has been quite controversial - Joseph's Coat.
My first effort was literal -

Only about 8" high

 

but after a think I decided on this

Roughly 10" square, I used Invisible Machine Applique, which is a technique I learnt after attending a workshop given by Dawn Cameron Dick.  Brilliant technique!!

Now to see what we have to do in November.