The year moves on, Summer is slowly turning into Autumn and that can mean only one thing - the Rut is nearly upon us!
It was fairly quiet out and about when I went to check the rutting area, but this magnificent fella was staking an early claim
The ladies and last year's youngsters were mooching around as well, keeping an eye on us
More will start to drift in over the next few days as things start to get busier. We normally like to see a few cold nights to kick things off, but the forecast is more soggy than frosty
But rest assured, the players are all in place :-)
More stags started to appear over the weekend, mostly youngsters, but some bigger ones have been spotted around the reedbed hides, so it looks like they're on their way. Until they arrive, the young pretenders will get the chance to strut their stuff a bit
Not sure what's happened to this chap though - looks like he's had a bit of an accident! I hope he doesn't try arguing with another stag, being lopsided he'll undoubtedly get injured. Makes me want to do a bit of Photo-shoppery to re-instate him!
Some youngsters are still a bit spotty...
And some of the ladies are a bit fussy with food - all that grass and she simply HAS to have a bit of tree!
The big boys are licking their lips over the pretty girls
And posing nicely for the cameras
Some of the ladies are keeping out of the way
And just as a test for the car enthusiasts, a small prize will be awarded to the person able to identify the truck from the bunny's eyeball reflection :-)
Things are starting to warm up a bit more now - as the temperature drops! Though some ladies aren't keen and leave
Followed by last year's young
A little "Knobber" is hanging out near the herd
But he's nowhere near big enough to challenge the big boys!
No doubting who's in charge at the moment!
Mr WJ asked me to pose nicely for you so I hope this is nice enough, I thought I'd frame myself as well for that arty look