British mammals are notoriously hard to see. British fauna is a mere shadow of that which it once was or that which exists in the rest of Europe. For the most part, gone are the wolves, bears, aurochs, lynx, and the like although there are returning species such as the beaver and the boar, and others are shrouded in the debate over other reintroductions. British mammals have learned to be elusive and are almost exclusively nocturnal. The most seen mammals are Grey Squirrels which as an invasive species have taken over our towns and cities. Mice and rats are often seen but perhaps the rabbit and fox can be counted as the most obvious of our wilder nature.
My trail camera work has shown me
the wealth of mammal life all around us, but rarely have I seen these mammals in
person. I can count the number of badgers, otters, weasels, stoats, and mink
that I have seen each on a single hand. In recent years however the mill has
allowed me to get to know a different species, the Roe Deer.
Many of my blog posts have
explored these deer and their antics. There are several females and a couple of
bucks. Over the last few years, they have successfully bred and this year one
of the does gave birth to two fawns. I never saw these fawns in person their
mother kept them too closely protected although I did watch them grow on the
various video clips and photos from the trail cams. Over the past few months, I
have seen the mother and the two fawns, now nearly the same size as her almost
every time I have gone down.
This week however what I assumed was amazing fieldcraft was actually something quite different. On Christmas Eve I visited the mill to collect my cameras and I wanted to check on the whips I had planted. As I crossed the meadow area which is covered in brambles, long grasses, and the dried stems of nettles and loosestrife the doe jumped out in front of me. It bounded away from me flashing its white rump at me, holding my gaze, and then it stopped. Normally it would be off and keep going but this time it paused and looked back at me.
I managed to get a couple of
shots off, trying to focus between the vegetation before in what looked like
exasperation she bounded off and with a final check to see if I was following
bounded behind a bramble patch out of site. The meadow is riddled with animal tracks
and the way was quite clear along the backwater where she had bounded but
rather than follow her directly, I decided that if I cut round to the right
side of the bramble bush and see if I could catch sight of her the other side.
Taking but a step or two to the right I was startled as a second and then a third leaped out of the undergrowth in front of me. The first was so close that I could nearly have reached out and stroked its back. In silence, they bounded after the doe and disappeared. Pulling myself together I moved around the brambles and in the distance saw the three of them running hell for leather into the distance.
Excited by my encounter it took a
moment for the event to sink in and for the truth to reveal itself to me. My
field craft had not calmed the doe and allowed her to stand patiently as I got
my camera and took some shots, far from it she was playing me. What I had
experienced is something many species do to distract predators. Although the
two fawns were now nearly fully grown, she was still protecting them. Whilst
they hunkered down stock still in the undergrowth practically invisible, she
tried to distract me and lead me away from them. Her pausing and watching me
was her checking to see if I was following, she was taunting me, begging me to
follow, awkward me however hadn’t followed her path exactly, instead, I had deviated
to the right and come too close to the hidden fawns. The minute I crossed that
hidden boundary of comfort the fawns bolted and took themselves to safety.
This fact changes the context of
the encounter to one of amazement of a wild animal becoming comfortable with my
presence a moment of two souls meeting between a gaze to one tinged with fear
and panic. The concern of a mother trying to lead a potential threat away from
her young. Young that although nearly fully grown were still dear to her,
forgive the pun. In nature, it is hard to equate maternal feelings and at what
point that ends. We see it in wildlife documentaries when a cheetah cub is
chased off to find a new territory or a bear cub is abandoned to find its own
life whilst the mother mates again but, in this case, the doe is still intent
on protecting her young.
Roe deer are the only deer to exhibit
delayed implantation. The doe will have mated with one of the two local bucks
back in July/August but the fertilised egg will not actually implant in the
uterine wall until January, this is when I suspect this maternal instinct will
fade although the three of them will stick together for a while until the new
fawns are born in mid-May.
No comments:
Post a Comment