Two Kinds of Beasts!

Firstly, Blogger is playing up so sorry for the formatting at the bottom of this page and I have also been unable to comment for quite some time. I'm not ignoring you!

I spent a few hours selecting my location; this is always crucial as it can make all the difference with wildlife photography. I had no intention of photographing the deer on this day, it was all about preperation.
After selecting my spot (deep in the forest) I quickly built myself a hide from dead branches etc and then left the area.

This was the view from my hide, where hopefully I would capture some rutting and even a fight between two bucks; if I was lucky.


The following day I was sat in the hide at 7.30am with a cammo net draped over the front. It was cold, damp and again I was sat in a very uncomfortable position with a tree root sticking in my butt!
It's all about patience now, just staying very still and quiet while listening for any noises, which would tell me that a deer or another mammal was close by.
The buck was roaring nearby and the noise was getting closer, so I knew he was making his way towards me.
I saw him peering through some bracken, checking the area was safe. He was just to my left making his way to the clearing.


I was ready, the pain and the cold was gone, just my will remained, for him to stand in the clearing.
To put the work in and vision a shot; then to walk away with that shot is an achievement.
He got closer and was now on the edge of the clearing, just a few more steps and I could get the shot I was after.


He stood there for a few minuets and I could tell he was nervous. Had he picked up me scent? Doubtful as I had the wind in my face; it must be something else.
Then I heard it; loud talking in a forein language!
He was gone, disappeared into the forest and my teeth were grating as I had been only moments away from my goal.
I just sat there looking in the direction of the voices. The talking became louder and then I saw them; bucket toting fungi collectors!
They had no idea I was there even though they were no more than 5 metres away from me, but even worse they had no idea that they had just disturbed a rutting area. Either that, or they didn't care.
They moved out of sight, but not far, so my time had been wasted in this area. Thoroughly "%**+= off I decided to move about 250 metres to another location.

45min I had been sat in the second location when I heard a noise coming from behind me. It sounded heavy and could only be a mammal I thought as I sat there ready for whatever it was to walk past me.
This is what walked past me!


There were three of them in total and I knew it was useless to carry on. All my preperation had been wasted, all my time and effort gone in a flash.
I understand that the forest is for all to enjoy, but the forest is a big place and I couldn't believe that they chose the part I was camped out in.

I decided to get some fungi shots (before the three amigos collected it all). So I snapped on my macro lens and went fungi humting.

Here are some of the fungi I found with some MINI BEASTS!



















.


They weren't the only Beasts that had been in the forest! I came across this; a half full fuel container, left behind from Forestry Opperations



And then this!!!!


Time to go home!

Slow Down for Wild Boar and Deer

The leaves are changing colour, the fungi is looking magnificent, snakes are heading for hibernation and the fallow deer are rutting!
It may be cold and wet out there, but who can say this time of year is boring?

However, there a few things to be aware of! - During the months of October and November the fallow deer mate. This is called the rut and the bucks will patrol their territory, herding and protecting their doe's.
While walking you can hear them calling from their stands and if you are lucky, you can sometimes hear the clash of antlers as they engage in battle!



There has been some recent reports of dog and boar incidents in the forest and although none have been fatal, its still not nice to see a dog injured and the owners shook up.
The rut could be forcing the boars from the deeper parts, to the edges of the forest, and this is where they will come into contact with humans (and dogs) more frequently.
Please be alert at all times when walking in the forest and if you feel uneasy, keep your dog on a lead and close to you until you are in an area where you are sure you will not come across any boars.
Prevention is better than the cure!
Some boars get alarmed by the presence of dogs, especially if they have young nearby, and/or if the dog is barking. You can't stop your dog barking, but common sense "should" tell you to go another way if you spot them. Why take the risk?

Dogs should always be under control in our forest and only the other day, after someone told me that they were supposedly charged by a wild boar, I was faced with a comment from them saying "what if I was a child?"
My answer to this is simple - Forget the boars, I would be more concerned with all the dogs running around off lead. They pose a greater risk to children than any of our wildlife critters!

This time of year also poses a greater risk of collision with a deer (and now boar) while driving.
Poor light during the early morning and late evening is when you must be extra vigilant as both the boar and the deer move around considerably at this time.
Hitting one of these animals in your car, or on your motorbike can be devastating for all concerned!
The animal will almost certainly die, probably after a very long and excruciating time, but your car will also sustain untold damage and imagine a mature fallow deer buck smashing into your windscreen!
I don't have to explain what would happen if a motorcycle hit one of these animals...




There are too many incidents on our roads at this time of year, involving our wildlife, so please take it easy and look after yourself as well as our wildlife!

Rob

A Year Behind The Lens - 2009

This is my first year filming around the Forest of Dean. I have been photographing it for a long time, but I had never put a lot of time into filming, until this year.

As you can only upload 100MB of video to Blogger at one time, I had to be selective with my material and there is no music to my video as the sounds of the forest are far more superior to any music!

I hope you like what you see?

BBC Glos Wildlife Feature

Click the link below, it will take you to a new deer feature, which I have written for the BBC Gloucestershire website.
Knocked Autumnwatch off the top spot, lol.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/gloucestershire/hi/people_and_places/nature/default.stm

Autumn in the Forest of Dean

I am reposting this video I created a while ago because it is about autumn and I love the record...

Forever Autumn by the Moody Blues...

Here are a couple of pics from the last few days...

Thanks

Rob

Autumn is here

Here are some autumn pics from this year and previous years. All were taken in the Forest of Dean.

New Deer Pics & Video from the Forest of Dean

Well, the fallow deer rut is around the corner and the doe's are already grouping. Counted 19 in two groups on Monday 21st September.
I managed to get some pics of the one group. Here they are...

Click on the images for larger size.


This image has been cropped to highlight the tick on top of her left ear!


Two young doe's having a bit of fun. The dark one is melanistic.

Spotted me! Oh well never mind!

OK, this is not a deer, nor is it in the Forest of Dean! It's a grey heron I photographed on the river Avon earlier this month.

This is a rare treat! A pure white fallow buck, not a true albinistic fallow buck, but impressive none the less. I filmed him on Tuesday 22nd September.

I was quite a way off and I didn't want to scare him away by trying to get closer. 50x optical zoom pulled him in though.

The Forest of Dean and its Wildlife in Pictures

This pic vid has sound not music, check it out! Hope you like?

Please comment.

Autumn in the Forest of Dean

I know we have only just broken into summer, but this is what we have got to look forward to. All photographs taken in Forest of Dean by me.

Don't forget to turn the volume up!

Enjoy...