DeerCam in the garden

This time he brought the family.  The buck was first in at 21.20, only 20 minutes after I had arrived home, but he quickly scampered into the garden and out of view of the camera.

45 minutes later a doe appeared and started eating the ivy near the gate.  If you look at the far right of the picture you can see a fox eating peanuts just below the kitchen window.

Another 7 minutes later her daughter came in to join her.

They were happily munching the ivy for 15 minutes until they moved beyond the view of the camera.

You can still see the fox in this video clip.  Sorry about all the traffic noise in the background.

The camera emits a dim red glow from the LED lights, which I can see, and I think the deer probably can as well. The youngster, in particular, seems to stare at the camera.  There is some light from the street lights so it may be that the deer could see the camera itself.

They returned just after 1am and spent another 20 minutes browsing in front of the camera.

Here the doe has an itch.

I am pleased to say the old Wingscapes camera managed a few colour photos.

You can see on this video clip that the youngster did startle when the flash fired to take the picture above.

The last video clip shows the deer leaving at 04.12, having spent almost seven hours in the garden.  The doe left first, followed by the buck with the daughter dawdling behind.

Although the cameras couldn't see what they were up to most of the time, I couldn't imagine the deer were eating all that time.  When I looked in the wood I could find three scrapes where they had been resting or sleeping.

Nearly half of my garden - 0.4 acre - is left as wild wood and it contains a lot of ivy.  I am pleased that the deer want to eat it and even more pleased that (so far) no rabbits seem to have taken advantage of the gate being left open.