This visit was definitely too early for the deer rut in Richmond Park but I wanted to visit the park at least once this year. As we drove down the M3, the low lying fields were covered in mist which definitely looked promising.
Since my visit last year the traffic flows around the Richmond Park have changed. It is now no longer possible to drive from the Richmond Gate down Sawyer’s Hill to the Roehampton Gate and then on around to get to Pen Ponds. Instead we drove down Queens Road and parked at Broomfield Hill Wood and made our way across to Pen Ponds.
Pen Ponds
The mist looked promising as we walked down towards the ponds.
One of the ponds had been drained and earth moving equipment was already hard at work as we came to the ponds. The path between the ponds was closed as this was where the majority of the work was taking place.
After crossing the large open space past the Pen Ponds car park we stopped to watch a couple of does.
Mist over the ponds
We walked around both ponds looking to see if we could find a red deer stag. This is the closest that we came.
Here’s a closer look at her…
And this bird landed in the ferns in front of us…
Breakfast time
After we left the ponds we stopped at the Pen Ponds cafe only to discover that they had no electricity and regrettably were closed. We did chat with two Park Volunteers about the deer and the upcoming rut. We were told that the rut here would usually start a couple of weeks after Bushy Park.
Luckily for us the cafe back at Broomfield Hill Wood was open and we had a crispy bacon bap washed down with tea!
