The stag party

I recently went on a visit to Raby Castle to see the red and fallow deer, organised by the Natural History Society of Northumbria.  Our guide was Iain Alexander, head gamekeeper on the estate.  It was dark and foggy when we arrived, which Iain described as "atmospheric", but which made for difficult conditions for photography, especially as the deer preferred to be under the trees where it was even darker.  They were more interested in finding acorns than in posing for the camera.

The Raby fallow deer are mostly melanistic (almost black), which also doesn't help photograph them in very poor light. These few photos below were the best I could manage.  The estate also has a large of red deer but they kept their distance and were even more elusive.