Beautiful Creatures

After a few days of abstract images I wanted to get back to what I like best, wildlife photography. It is always quite challenging because you need a lot of patience, you need to be in the right place at the right time and you need to right conditions to get the perfect shot.

I decided earlier this week that come the weekend I would go to Dunham Massey to photograph the Fallow Deer during the rut. Yesterday morning the sunrise was spectacular, the light was perfect and as I drove to work I wanted to cancel my visits and set off with my camera and take advantage of the perfect conditions. Of course I couldn't do that, I went to work and just hoped for the best that Saturday morning would be just as perfect.

Jump forward 24 hours, I was up early and at Dunham Massey in time for the sunrise but sadly the sun couldn't break through the thick clouds and a light rain started to fall shortly after I arrived. 

As a result the pictures I got have a rather soft and grainy quality because I had to use a very high ISO combined with a fairly fast shutter speed to avoid getting blurry images.

I was able to watch a pair of young bucks briefly sparring and the clash of their antlers reverberated around the woodland. The air was also filled by the deep bellowing calls of the dominant stags as they tried to attract the females to their stand.

I have never witnessed this spectacle before so it was great to be there for it this year and without doubt I will go back another time when the conditions are better but for now I will make the best of the images I was able to shoot and I hope that you like these and the others that I will post in the coming days.

I have selected a third image for you but before you scroll down to it I have to warn you that it is a distressing image which I will explain below...

This stag half walked, half ran across a clearing in front of me and I noticed that it appeared to be limping I wasn't able to see at the time why it was having such difficulty  but I put it down to an injury caused in a fight with a rival stag.

At the end of my visit however I spoke to a ranger about the herd and I also over heard him telling another ranger that a deer had been found dead in one of the pools and that it had been killed by someone using a crossbow, he also mentioned reports of another deer with a crossbow injury to its leg. The rangers were obviously saddened by this and I shared their feelings, even more so when I got home to review my photos and I found a series of this stag with a crossbow bolt through its knee. While this majestic and beautiful creature seemed to be getting around I can't help thinking that it is unlikely to survive this injury because the rangers will not be able to separate it from the herd and treat it, it is after all a wild animal. 

I cannot understand the mentality of someone who would shoot deer like this, hunting for food is one thing and culling to maintain a healthy herd is another but this is unacceptable and is the action of selfish, idiotic people who in my opinion are scum.