Over the next couple of weeks I will hope to add a few more Blog posts with new photographs and experiences in various locations in the New Forest area, but for now please read on for details of my first 'scouting' visit to the Forest a couple of days ago...
The morning started well, with the almost perfect dewy, misty sunrise with only scattered cloud, so the first photograph of the day was of a scene that was a pleasure to watch unfold.
Deer, of which there were two species that I was hoping to photograph on this day, have a tendency of being very elusive, but within a few minutes of my arrival and brief walk, I spotted pair of Fallow Deer Bucks walking from a nearby wooded area into the open heath. The sunlight from between the clouds lit them up beautifully in the mist.
This was about the last I was to see of the sunshine for the day as the wind was picking up and cloud was building to a dull uniform cover which meant any further photographs would require a higher ISO and slower shutter speed - not perfect for wildlife photography!
Now that I had seen the two Fallow Deer, I knew there would be more relatively close by, so the next couple of hours were spent looking in heath to forest areas until I spotted a small number of Fallow Does deep within a forested area far beyond where I usually sight them. With the wind strong, and unable to get into a favourable position, I decided to sit tight and hope for a few chance photographs of any Deer moving in my direction and was soon rewarded with a lovely creamy white (but not a true albino) Doe.
After the Does had moved on, I carried on my search and soon spotted a Fallow Buck strutting around in a lightly wooded area, but with the wind yet again coming from behind, the Buck knew I was there and I only managed a few photographs before it moved deeper into the forest.
Obviously, the New Forest has an enormous amount of wildlife and scenery, and I don't only go to this wonderful environment just to photograph Deer. Here are a couple of the highlights of the day, although with the lack of sunlight, landscape photographs were never going to be high on my agenda!
At this time of year, the forest floor yields a great number of various Fungi, and these are always good targets for a photograph. One of significance that I spotted was of the 'Fly Agaric' species, striking in it's red colour with it's wart like cap scales.
It was during a time when I was photographing another Fungi that a young Fallow Buck appeared. I had not heard it's approach, and he did not notice me, so with the tripod still set up low I slowly moved the camera on it's swivel mount to focus on the Buck. The area of woodland was dark under the cloud cover, so I had to quickly up the ISO to 1000 to get a useable shutter speed - of only 1/15th sec! I only managed a couple of photos as at this close distance, the shutter sound alerted the Deer and the next couple of minutes (which felt at the time like an eternity!) were spent crouched behind the camera and tripod until the Buck went back to it's grazing. At that point I slowly retreated as it moved off itself.
One of the highlights of the day had to be when a young Fallow Doe walked out in front of me onto a footpath. She didn't notice me at all and this allowed me to catch one of those classic 'Bambi' moments.
As I mentioned earlier, there is an enormous amount of wildlife to be found in the New Forest, and one species of it's inhabitants are the Grey Squirrels. I know they are well known as a rodent, but I still believe they have their place. This chap didn't think I had noticed him as he was trying to hide on a branch whilst peeking at me!
It had taken most of the day for me to sight the Red Deer, my second on the list of Deer so locate and photograph, and even then only 2 were seen. The Stag, however, was a wonderful sight, covered in mud, which is part of the pre rut ritual, and strutting along behind a Hind.
In all, a good day spent in the New Forest, even though the weather wasn't perfect. Lets hope for better weather over the next couple of weeks!!
