Over the past few weeks I’ve been visiting Richmond Park to photograph the stags in the annual rutting season. Each time it has provided something different from stags bellowing, fawn with its mother, females on alert or chilled sitting on the ground, to stags chasing off youngsters. It has provided some incredible experiences capturing the essence of Richmond Park during the rutting season, enjoying the atmosphere and the challenges of wildlife photography.
The contrast between the foggy mornings and the moments when the sun breaks through can create such a magical setting. Imagine the thrill of hearing the stags bellow and the rush of trying to get the perfect shot before they become aware of your presence. It's fascinating how their behaviour changes, especially with the added layer of competition and the dynamics of their harems.
Each time was about early morning frosty starts covered in fog making it difficult to see beyond your nose with only the bellowing of the deer allowing you to trace and find their location.
Each time I visited it was a different experience from the first time where I found the sun penetrating the woods, finding a deer feeding quietly alone. Unbeknown to them I am able to gather my camera and start taking shots until a nearby dog comes bounding towards me, excitedly barking - now the deer is aware of my presence, I literally have a few seconds to capture the shot as the spooked deer decides to move on.
With the foggy conditions it's sometimes a case of stopping and listening, following the sounds as the stags roar to compete. The fog and mist certainly provides an atmospheric image.
When the deer are amongst the ferns it provides a great moment in time to show off what and how a stag does to attract a female. You’ll also see these dominant stags use these fern crowns in the heat of battle as they run side by side and then towards each other clashing antlers. Boom.
As the sun rises this provides an opportunity to capture these beautiful animals in all of their glory as they bellow you can see their warm breath against the coldness of the day providing an opportunity to capture that image that you had in your mind before setting off. The dominant males will always listen out for the youngsters or the less dominant males which are bellowing. Once they hear this or feel like it’s too close they will gravitate towards the sound in order to defend their kingdom. Sometimes they will find that their females have been enticed away and they need to spend time to chase off the infiltrator and return the females to the rest of the herd.
I find the best moments when you’re in the woods, the fog doesn’t penetrate the woods as much as it does in the open grasslands. This provides the opportunity to capture them in all the glory in the hope of them wearing those fern crowns or bellowing amongst the trees or keeping an eye on their females. If you are lucky you will see the interactions between the male and the female and if you even look here, you’ll get to spot one of the fawns from the prior year.
Richmond Park with a strong herd of over 600 deer consisting of red deer seek deer and follow their it provides amazing opportunities to capture the semi wild individuals in a protected environment. Also sometimes finding them in the 2500 acres can be challenging if it all goes quiet therefore what you need to do it starts to look around you and look for the other birds or the bunnies and try and ignore other people.
I've tried to capture the essence of the park beautifully, with the mix of tranquillity and the wildness of nature. It’s not just about the photos, but the experience of being there, listening, and observing.
