Action near the ponds
Steve rang me to say that a group of males were in the open further down the path away from the road. Nearby a stag and small group of hinds were next to a stream from the pond. Through the trees we watched them slowly move away. The stag then moved to stand guard by the open ground.
One of the other males then walked over by the stream.
This was as close as we came to seeing stags rutting. The encounter probably lasted about 20 seconds. The young stag then drifted away and chose to walk towards the trees that I was sheltering behind. I stayed behind the trees for over 5 minutes while he grazed and looked around.
We walked back up the path towards the road and tracked this stag until he vanished into the woods away to our left.
Last encounters
We started to walk along the path that cut across the open ground below the road. This lead straight to the car park. To our left we could hear a stag and could see the bracken moving as hinds made their way through.
Then we could see the antlers of the stag.
The stag then came out of the bracken on our left and paused to graze right in front of us…
… before moving on following the hinds.
This was yet another group as once out of the bracken we could see photogaphers gathered aroungd a stag and hinds away to our left by the road. This was where we had had our first encounter after arriving.
Breakfast at the cafe
The sky had now cleared and here’s one of the planes that flew over us as we walked back to the cafe for a bacon roll and a cup of tea.
