A stag at sunrise

Richmond Park

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A frosty morning: Richmond Park, 21st October 2010

Stag - Richmond Park

A stag guarding his harem

16th October 2010.  The stag in these pictures had a harem  who were grazing on the edge of a clump of trees. Another stag was with his harem on the opposite side of the clump of trees, and several single stags were lurking in the field outside the trees. This stag paced up and down the field just outside the trees, bellowing at regular intervals. At one point he engaged in a serious fight with another mature stag, but emerged victorious.

Starting about 15 minutes before sunrise, I spent two hours inside the clump of trees, retreating occasionally if a stag returned to within the trees. Even after sunrise, there was in fact no direct sunlight for almost the entire time I was there, except for about 30 seconds of bright sunlight - the period during which I took these photographs.

Scenes from the rut

Young stags fighting. These males were not actually guarding any females, but such fighting presumably enables them to develop future fighting skills and to learn about their relative dominance.

This stag does have a harem to guard and is bellowing his dominance.

Whilst one dominant stag was chasing away an intruder this hind decided she would rather be in a different part of the park.

A stag washes the face of one of the hinds in his harem.