Alan Mackenzie Photography

The time has come to return the Canon 500mm lens to Alex and to look back at my favourite photographs of my favourite land mammal — the Roe deer. With just one day remaining, I took the lens up to the West Sussex/Surrey border, hoping to see territorial bucks roaming the meadows. It was not long, before I spotted a pair of long ears protruding through the grass — a yearling doe — ruminating until grazing time. It would be at least an hour before she woke up, so I approached a mature buck grazing in an adjacent field carpeted with buttercups. In a show of mutually beneficial tolerance, the buck allowed Magpies to sit on his back, plucking ticks and mosquitoes. When the buck eventually detected my presence, he at first made a tentative approach, before gaining confidence and strutting back and forth. When the buck disappeared, I turned my attention back towards the neighbouring doe. I carefully selected a secluded thicket on the corner of an oak lined field to quietly observe the ani

The South Downs is one of the more underrated landscapes in the British Isles. In places, where the land is given over to crops, the Downs is a wildlife desert and very dull to look at. Fortunately, the landscape between Lewes and Brighton features attractive, well-managed mixed farmland and woodland. The South Downs in early summer is a patchwork of lush fields and hedgerows, which seem to glow in the evening light. During the 'Golden Hour', it is a landscape photographer's paradise. The abundance of trees and sparing use of pesticides makes the area a wildlife photographer's paradise as well. Roe deer are a common sight, as are buzzards, bats, foxes and hares. Roe deer Kids, born this month, are kept well-hidden in daytime, usually in long grass, while Bucks are waiting out June in preparation for the rutting season next month. The rutting season is a good time to photograph Roe deer, owing to the powerful changes in their behaviour caused by libidinal forces. B