Mainly Mammals 2019

This is the link to last years thread https://community.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/f/all-creatures/196151/mainly-mammals-2018#pifragment-4271=26

A bit late starting this off, but here we go with a Coypu trying to hide in some reeds & then disappearing off. Photos from mid january.

All contributions welcome!

  • Great start to this 2019 thread Hazel, what an interesting animal to see.
  • We'll have to go some to better that H!
  • Oooh now that's a new face on here, well done Hazel, good capture.
  • Good start to the mammal season, Hazel. Coypu were an introduced species to the UK and were farmed for their fur I believe. They had to be eliminated because escapees were causing too much damage to waterways.
    I think to top that sighting someone needs to go down to the Exe to photograph Beavers. LOL
  • I can't get anything as special as a Coypu or a Beaver on the Exe  !    instead you will have to make do with Red Deer youngster from Tatton Park ................

    A bit of a story to this one, and in a way it was somewhat concerning as we spotted this young red deer by the edge of Melchett Mere looking rather soggy.      An eyewitness told us this youngster had been on the far side of the mere when it was harrassed and then chased by a dog off-leash.   Apparently the deer had jumped into the mere at the far side to escape the dog and swam a huge distance to get to the other side.    It remained there for well over an hour that we watched it (from a discrete distance), it was looking confused and towards the side where it had swam from, probably looking for its group of hinds and other youngsters and wondering how to get back.     I managed to flag down the ranger who was driving past who advised the best thing to do was to give the deer space which we had already done but others were going up and photographing the animal with mobiles - not knowing the whole story and meaning no harm.     He said they are good swimmers but i was concerned if another dog approached it from this side it may spook the youngster into swimming back across when it was already exhausted.     All I could do was tell as many folk (especially those with dogs off leash)  to avoid the lower path by the mere and to leash their dogs and give it a wide berth.   I also asked them to tell people who they passed if they were encroaching on the animal.      

    This is Melchett Mere and you can see how wide and long it is for this poor animal that swam across the whole length to the bank in the far distance  ..............

    and this is as we passed by on the roadside when we first saw the deer ................   taken with 560mm focal length and hard cropped

    It just kept looking around for the herd and across the far side of the mere where it had come from..........  I couldn't see the hinds or other young anywhere, only a group of Stags which I doubt would accept the company of this youngster.         At times it went leg deep as if contemplating the return journey but glad it didn't try as it must have been tired swimming across on choppy water in the strong breeze.    

    this was the path I took the photos from but others were going down the bank within a few metres of the youngster who would wade back into the water away from them  :(   

    you can just see the deer standing with its back towards the camera by the long grass/water if you follow directly down from the two people walking by on the road ......

    Hopefully once the park closes for the night it will wander around the mere via the grassland and find its herd again.       I wish there was something else I could have done except try to ask folk to give it a wide berth if I saw them approaching and to leash their dogs.   

  • It is horrid to see an animal out of it's comfort zone and obviously distressed. You did the right thing by the sound of it Hazy by alerting the Ranger, and also by asking others to not go near with or without their dogs. Sometimes there is no sense out there, and you just have to hope the animal will get back to the herd by walking around the mere once the people have gone home, you would think the family would pick up any sound of stress and react when all is quiet.
  • Thanks Gaynor, I felt desperately sorry for this animal as it looked almost forlorn looking around for any sign of its herd. Now the park is closed I hope it rejoins its family or they hear its call; most people are quite sensible with dogs and half are leashed but you get the occasional park visitor who has no control over their dog and they go crazy chasing sheep and deer; the park officials say it is their policy not to enforce a dogs on leash requirement :(

  • Don't understand that Hazy, you would think it would make life easier for both the officials and the animals just to have a leads policy in an area full of wild animals.
  • gaynorsl said:
    Don't understand that Hazy, you would think it would make life easier for both the officials and the animals just to have a leads policy in an area full of wild animals.

    Yes, me too Gaynor;   I have seen a few reckless folk with uncontrolled dogs which chase the wildlife;   in Australia they used to have large fenced off dog-run areas with gates either end that owners could let their dogs off leash without them causing mayhem.   I've nothing against dogs if they are under their owners control but when I see wildlife unnecessarily distressed by them it angers me.      Most situations you can do something to assist when it comes to helping wildlife but I felt so useless today to help this young red deer.    From a distance,  I stood there for an hour thinking of all sorts of ways to do something but it would have meant maybe distressing the animal further had Mike & I tried to gently herd it around the mere.   It probably would have jumped back into the water so we didn't risk it and opted for the next best thing which was to try warn folk to keep their distance from the animal.