During the rut in July-August we saw the dominant buck chasing off a yearling and since then he has been the only one around. Until last week that is, when a new buck showed up. Roe bucks can be identified by their antlers so this one is clearly new. Below is the dominant resident male with his six point head.
This is the yearling who was chased off a few weeks ago. He has simple one-point antlers.
And this is the new guy. He has small forward-pointing brow points but doesn't yet (ie this year) have rear points.
And here he is on video.
Roe bucks aren't territorial at this time of year so I expect he'll be able to stick around. It will be interesting to see.
The older buck is a creature of habit and he often follows the same route in front of the cameras. He regularly takes a short cut through the water, here picking his way in the dark.
I have never seen him go back the same way. Here he is again in daylight last week. His darker winter coat is already nearly complete although he is still a bit foxy red around the tail end.




what a beauty JL
ReplyDeleteLovely to see this…..
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