Antlers on the bridge

I have recently purchased a new brand of wildlife trail camera. I usually use Bushnell exclusive and have a couple of Ltl Acorns but decided to try out the Browning. There is a fallen tree across a brook that has silted up creating a little bridge across for all sorts of animals to use. I decided to place the camera here to look at the passage of mammals and get a better look at individuals that use the area.

The number of Roe Deer sightings have increased in the past year or so and there seems to be a small herd of perhaps 4 individuals. I have caught fleeting glimpses of these deer in the distance, they always see me before I see them and move away quickly in typical bounding gait flashing their white rumps at me.

Last year I identified a pregnant female and later a fawn and so I know that the breed in the area. With this new camera I m starting to get an idea of the population. In the clip below we have a fine example of a Roe Deer buck.

The individual seen appears to be a buck in his prime. He has a set of fine antlers which you can see have the standard 3 points and is still covered in velvet.

Roe Deer are generally solitary but form small groups in the winter and the Buck is accompanied by a smaller buck whose antlers only have one point, one of which is strangely longer than the other.

In future weeks I hope to bring you some shots of Roe Deer does as a comparison. Whilst the does are probably still in a group at the moment the eggs that were fertilised in the rut in July/August will have implanted in January. This means the females are likely pregnant in May/June.