Bloody squirrels are a royal pain, they take up far too much precious space on my SD card.
Bloody squirrels are a royal pain, they take up far too much precious space on my SD card.
Need a man with an air rifle, to come sort a few out?
Had a really pleasant evening out with the mutts last night, stumbled across these, a couple of days old.
Followed them for a while till I found some fresher ones (couldn't get a good photo on the phone!) About an hour and a half later of following sign, heard some barking from the side of a big old fallen willow, and spotted the culprit hunkered down in the undergrowth.
Watched him for about 10 mins till the wind switched directions and he picked up on the scent of the mutts and took off into the woods.
It was only then that the hounds noticed him and started barking like mad at the end of the lead.
A thoroughly enjoyable few hours, totally concentrated on the task at hand, made all the more memorable in the fact that the mutts spooked a hare on the way back to the car as well.
[SIZE=4][COLOR=#8b4513]Wake me up when things are over, and I'm Wiser and older.
Wow, great vids and pics.
I'm glad I have now heard a Roe barking, would probably "brick it" if I heard that on a solo trip to the woods and hadn't watched this.
I found a good spot in some local woods where (hardly any) dog walkers go,this certainly helps with tracking hoof prints etc, most visits I see upto 4 different Roe.
Thankfully the Roe never seem to bark where I go, so either used to humans walking through their patch, or I'm good at walking silently and keeping the wind in the right place.
Will try and post some of my pics if the file sizes aren't too big.
P
You can see what difference a month makes between those pics. The first one still shows the moulting going on (the grey tatty bits) and the recent one shows a most stunning coat.
Perhaps not the same animal, but if taken in the same area, they would all be at a similar stage.
Bushwhacker, thanks for the feedback always appreciated. This was in the same area as the first couple of pics, so far I have seen upto 2 different Roe females and one male Roe. Think there is also a muntjack or two have only spotted one male but was so skilled at hiding out in grass / bracken I could'nt get a pic .. yet.
I'm starting to appreciate how lucky I am having found this location, its a woodland near me and although it covers a largish area the part without dog walkers is quite long and thin so the deer are enclosed to a certain extent and much easier to spot. I have attempted to do some tracking in more open woodland in other areas and have found it much more difficult to find them. But with a good field guide and people like yourself willing to share knowledge and tons of pics I'll get there.
My funniest encounter to date was attempting some badger watching with a mate on a rickety bushcraft style a frame bench, A roe male crept up and barked at us resulting in both of us shifting weight and promptly cracking the crossmember we were sat on. Needless to say the thud our cocyx's made scared off any Brocks.
Paul
Not sure about all deer, but muntjac are very inquisitive animals. If you know one is ahead of you, or nearby, crouch down slowly, pick up a stone, and start tapping it against another stone. 9 times out of 10 the deer will raise it's head and stare at you for a while. If you had a way of making that noise while holding and aiming a camera, it's a great way to get pics of them.
Cheers Saint, will have to try that out next time. Cue visions of me gaffa taping stones to my elbow and torso ... If I have any luck I'll get some pics up.
As I have seen one male Muntjac does anyone know if its sensible to assume there would be a female hiding somewhere to ?