Roe Deer

Dorset has a considerable number of Roe Deer spread across the county.

Finding them and getting close to them is not that easy. 

Primarily Roe deer are a woodland species, but will venture out on open farmland to feed.

During one of my lockdown walks I was searching for birds along a strip of young  woodland. I happen to look through towards the other side of the woodland and couldn't believe my eyes. There was a male Roe Deer grazing on grass along the edge of the woodland. I don't believe it could see me at that stage as I hadn't moved for a while. Its ears were pricked up and could obviously sense something.

You can observe from this shot below that he is trying to find an air scent of whatever is around.

Carefully relocating to a better position and remaining downwind, I was able to get plenty of shots of what turned out to be three Roe Deer. One male and two females.

All three appeared to be remaining in one location and looking in all directions which initially I couldn't understand. 

Eventually one by one they started to lay down amongst the tall rough grassland.

It was late afternoon so they were settling down for the night and completely out of sight. 

The location was very well selected, being protected from the elements, low lying and had plenty of escape routes. This was a nice experience and a privilege to witness as observing three like this was unusual as far as I was concerned. 

As you can imagine, using the electronic silent shutter I took plenty of images.