Saturday 27 October 2012

Autumn Colours - New Forest, Hampshire.

Here are a few pictures we took on our sunny trip to the New Forest. The main purpose of the trip was to try catch some deer rutting. Unfortunately, we didn't see any, although we did manage to find a relatively
large herd of fallow deer that allowed us to get quite near for long enough to get some photographs. We also managed to get some glorious shots of this years autumn foliage in what turned out to be a surprisingly sunny English dawn - great!





Diane at dawn

















Our first glimpse of a herd of Fallow deer


We stood and watched them for quite a while, then they just turned around a wondered gracefully back into the wood. To me they seemed to be beckoning us in and inviting us to follow them to meet the rest of the gang. So we decided to take up their offer to see what we could find.




I took this photo thinking I only got a doe but on further inspection I managed to get a buck as well - left of picture.


A Fallow buck

After following our four legged guides for a while we came across this buck. After getting our eye in we noticed the herd was located directly behind him. I wanted to get closer for a better shot but the buck was most definitely on sentry keeping a beady eye on us, so I didn't push it - I didn't fancy deer antler stuck in my delicates!



He's not budging and I'm not testing

A doe checking us out from a clearing. 

I was quite surprised at how relaxed they all were; we found they didn't flee in a panic. They just watched us for a while then casually moved onto more exciting things - don't blame them really, we must have been as dull as dish water.

















oooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhh, failed!

No gold medals for me, just wet legs.


Stunning colours!

For whatever reason the autumn colours here in the south of England are definitely deeper and more vivid this year.

..........and again


1, 2, 3,...erh, I think we're missing a leg!

This was most definitely a great morning; the New Forest was absolutely glorious; and although we didn't see any rutting I was glad we made the effort to get up early. What difference a bit of Sun can make, eh? Moments like this kind of make you feel glad to be alive. Thanks for looking. Hope you enjoyed the photos. If you're ever in Hampshire check out the New Forest - we love it. 

All here for next years Nightjars, then? I think some planning needs to be done.