Perfect destresser - it's a walk in the park !

In urgent need of a destresser we decided to head out into nature for 4 hours today, wandering around the lovely local Tatton Park estate and enjoying close views of their huge herd of Red Deer.     We made time to stop off in the courtyard garden cafe for a bowl of hot curried vegetable soup and shared a cheese and chutney sandwich   -  just the ticket to recharge the batteries again for life's daily challenges !    

In no particular order - as they are all red deer and mostly stags although these first couple of pics show a huge herd of females and yearlings;    most adult females will now be in calf.

In Tatton Park, outside of rutting season you can get very close to the deer as they are very tolerent of humans although I still opt to give them plenty of space and use the zoom of the camera instead ......

Here's one stag that still has his headset on   !!

I knelt down to ground level as I prefered this angle whilst he was laying down although I'm not sure he liked having his picture taken   lol

then we have the more inquisitive type   !         who like a good nosy at what you are up to with the camera   ..............

some prefer to show their best side to the camera ........................

and other's want to have their photo taken in racehorse pose ..................

whilst other's stick their tongue out at you and walk away      !!!

and some just hurl abuse at you    "  ##@@@ ## "    !!!

On the other side of the park towards the Rostherne drive area we saw a lone red stag ..........

regal pose .............

nice candelabra and lights !

are you sticking your tongue out again ?    !!! ................

  • Fabulous shots Hazy, looked and sounded like a lovely walk and at least it stayed dry hopefully for you both. I think I too would have used zoom rather than get too close to all those big creatures, especially the Red Stag with a headful of antlers.
  • Some grand photos there Hazel of the lovely deer and stags, they do have some poses!
  • A great collection of Deer and their expressions … not least the 'odd' ones!
  • Just catching up with this thread, Hazel. Some gorgeous portraits there--thanks, but there is a surprising amount of tongue-sticking-out there as well! Who knew what Red Deer get up to outside of the rutting season?--lol!
  • Thanks all, we are really lucky to live 15 mins walk away from the park and deer herds; I found a couple more pics for you. It's just been hailstoning and feels more like winter again today but hopefully better weather this coming week when i might revisit the park and deer.

    it's funny the things you don't notice when you take a photo   -  dratted fence distracting from the antlers !    I must learn to pay more attention when composing  lol

  • Lovely shots, Hazel. There's nothing like talking to the animals to brush away the cares of the world. Funny how they stick their tongues out ........ perhaps it's to scent the air.
  • Very nice Hazel, and yes it is nice to get out and about.
  • Funny how they stick their tongues out ........ perhaps it's to scent the air.
    @ Tony yes, I think you're spot on as I see them doing the "licking" of the air frequently although it is more associated with rutting time.

    @ Alan, it was good to get some fresh air as weather has been a bit disappointing after the unexpected heatwave at end of February. They've taken the promised sunshine off for tomorrow and replaced it with rain so may have to wait till end of week for better conditions. Hopefully your snow has now melted !

  • Lovely set of shots, Hazel. You can't beat getting out to help you wind down and relax a bit. :-)
  • A lot of animals stick their tongue out when getting scent but I think they should do it with their mouth open to get air into an organ in the roof of the mouth. If the mouth is closed they're just being rude and blowing raspberries at you! (I think).
    Maybe you forgot the fence in one photo but at least you didn't get the classic tree growing out of its head