A Quiet Month

February has been a quiet month with not much happening in the garden. Everyone is waiting for spring.

The weather has been awful - grey, dark snowy and rainy. I think the animals are as fed up as I am.

The only things flowering are the snowdrops. They seed themselves every year and have grown over a large area.

The only good thing about this weather is that it has driven the deer into the garden, even in daytime to search for food. They come right up to the house and it has been wonderful watching them. They are eating things that they would never normally eat, such as heather. I guess they are desperate.

It is now official that this has been the worst winter for more than 30 years in this area. In other parts of the UK, it has been even worse.

I hope that no damage has been done to the plants and that everything will spring into life when it warms up a bit.

Roe Deer Convention?

There have been so many roe deer in the garden over the last week, I am having trouble identifying them.

Last week I spotted this threesome and went outside to try to get a photo. They, of course, spotted me immediately and did not stay long. I must try to improve my deer stalking skills!

It is difficult to tell, but I think these were two males and one female.

Yesterday, I went into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee and spotted this roe buck cleaning up the seed under the bird feeders (just 3 metres from my kitchen window). I had the wrong lens on the camera but no time to change it, so all the photos were close-ups.

You can see his little antlers just pushing through!

I think the extreme weather this winter has been great for wildlife spotting. The creatures are more desperate than usual for food and are willing to venture out in daylight to find it.

Long-tailed Tits and Roe Deer

Probably my favourite small bird is the Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus). They are small and fluffy, never keep still and are very sociable. You never see them alone. They usually appear in groups of 6 to 10.

Sadly, they are not constant visitors to the garden. They appear for a few days then disappear for weeks, but they are a joy to watch. After the bad weather recently, I think they were very happy to get an easy meal on my bird feeders.

This was the first time that I managed to get a reasonably good photo of them.

There also seem to be a lot of deer around at the moment. This Roe Deer buck appeared with 2 females just before dark tonight. You can see his beautiful velvet antlers.

Roe Deer Buck

This chap was hanging around our garden all day today. I watched him eating our shrubs as I opened the curtains when I got up this morning (no camera handy).

I got my camera out when he was eating the windfall apples this evening, but it was almost dark, so the photograph is not too good.

You can see the remnants of his ginger summer coat amongst his darker winter coat.

He is also a relatively young male since his antlers are quite small. Roe deer shed their antlers each winter and regrow them.

Deer, Squirrels and Pheasants

Until this week we have not seen any deer in or around the garden for ages. I guess they are visiting at night rather than during the day. However, in the last couple of days I have spotted a couple in the field out front. I think these are the mother and the young male born this year. They are both wearing their darker winter coats.

The squirrels are hyperactive at the moment. Every time I look out of the window, I see one running across the lawn, probably with acorns to stash away.

I think there must be people locally who breed pheasants. I suspect that they have just released this year's brood, possibly because the pheasant shooting season in England started on 1st October. In the last two weeks, there have been at least a dozen pheasants in the garden - mostly males. We often hear shooting in the woods, so I hope the pheasants realise they are safe in our garden!

Just a Big Kid

Since one of the roe deer died in the garden a couple of weeks ago, the others seem to have been visiting less frequently, or perhaps only at night. Maybe they sense danger here?

However, the fallen apples are proving too much of a temptation and mother and kid were back again today. I have only just found out that a young roe deer is called a "kid". I thought they were fawns.

The kid is big now - almost as big as its mother. But, it's spots are still showing faintly. This kid is about 3 months old now. It was born in May.

His Lucky Day?

He thinks it may be his lucky day?

Roe Deer Mating Season

It's that time of year again - the roe deer buck has turned up and is staying very close to the doe. It is quite amusing to watch. He stays about 20-30 metres away from her. If she sits down, so does he.

Hopefully there will be some new little ones next May.

Deer Surprise!

I had a nice surprise today. I was out in the garden photographing butterflies and I looked over the fence into the field next door. There, sat very quietly, was a roe deer who looked at me with interest but did not run away.They are normally very nervous creatures so it was lovely to get so close without scaring it. I rushed indoors to get my other camera and she was still there when I got back.

She sat quietly while I took some photos, but the problem was the long grass in which she was hiding. I am wondering why she did not run away? Maybe she was a youngster or perhaps she had a problem of some kind. She was not one of the regular roe deer that frequent the garden. I am getting the recognise them now!

Mother and Junior

Although I have seen them several times, the roe deer and her fawn have been avoiding the camera. However, the windfall apples have started to fall from the tree and they are proving to be too much temptation. Still not a very good shot, but they are easily spooked.

Junior still has his/her spots.

Finally a Fawn Photo

I have not been able to take a decent photo of the new fawn, but luckily I captured him/her on my stealthcam, taken at 5.00am today. Mum is looking on.

He/she still has her spots so is probably less than 8 weeks old.

Roe deer among the buttercups

Each year the field in front of our house is allowed to grow without grazing. There is always a wonderful display of buttercups. Roe deer love it. Each year I try to capture a photo of roe deer among the buttercups. This is this years effort.

After years of trying to take photos through the window, I have realised that I really need to get outside. Of course, there is not much time before they see me and run off. This is one of my better efforts.

Roe Deer fawn

Every year during the Spring Bank Holiday here in the UK, we usually catch sight, for the first time, of the roe deer fawns born this year. This weekend was no exception.

No opportunity for a photo, but mother and child were in the field at the front of our house. The youngster was only just visible in the long grass. I will post a photo as soon as I can get one. Watch this space!

The Terrible Twins?

Sitting at my computer this morning, two heads suddenly appeared at the window!

I slid down below the desk whilst trying to find my camera. I managed a few shots before they disappeared.

These roe deer are in the process of shedding their winter coats. Their fur seems very patchy with the ginger summer coat just showing through.

I have a feeling that these are the twins that were born last year. It is unusual to see a male and female together at this time of year.