Roe Deer: Fairies of the Meadow

I've been visiting a nature reserve in West Sussex, known for being a reliable place to see Roe deer, since 2011. The fields are a home from home. I once pitched a tent overnight in a secluded spot to capture the deer roaming in the morning dew. There was nothing better than brewing morning coffee after a dawn session with my favourite wild animal. There's a wooden lodge at the end of a private drive, complete with a private buttercup meadow and a 24-hour nature reserve within walking distance. I wouldn't mind making an offer if it came onto the market.

The land use has changed. Buttercups no longer appear in the two large, privately-owned fields adjacent to the reserve, as the horses, which kept the grasses short, have gone. In 2022, I spent 90 minutes following two bucks as the eldest drove the youngest through the buttercup meadow and away into a farmyard. They are choosy eaters, preferring oak leaves and buttercup petals. As night follows day, if you find the buttercups, you will find the Roe deer. I was lucky enough to spend two hours observing a yearling doe as she munched through yellow petals. Females are usually very wary, but this young doe didn't seem to mind me sitting on a camping stool by her field. Does outnumber bucks this year. I counted seven does and only two bucks, plus twin babies. It could be that there are simply more females, but the presence of two older bucks suggests that they have cleared the territory of younger males in preparation for the rutting season.

  

Female Roe Deer in Buttercups

 

Female Roe Deer in Buttercup Meadow

 

Female Roe Deer eating Buttercups

 

Female Roe Deer in Summer Meadow

 

Female Roe Deer eating Buttercups

 

Doe grooming herself in buttercup meadow

 

Doe in Buttercups

 

Doe

 

Doe in Buttercups Field

 

Male Roe Deer

 

Roe Buck Antlers


The Deer Meadow

It wouldn't matter if I visited the nature reserve five times or twenty times. I would still wish to keep returning. Wildlife photography is not so much about taking prize photos, but telling a story. When one only has a limited amount of spare time to travel, I always feel that there is more to experience and to tell. Roe deer in June are very much on the move and one visit can produce over one thousand photos and others less than 50 shots. On some occasions, I have not seen a single deer, even when you would expect them to be around. I would love to photograph a doe and her baby twins and a buck mating with a doe, but I never know what is around the corner. I may capture these events this year, in five years, or never. Every visit to the nature reserve is different, so there is no use in longing for bucket lists of desirable scenes to come true.

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