Below the Mohican Woods I disturbed a group of Roe Deer (two hinds and a buck) which were grazing along the forest edge. The two hinds - with flared white rumps - disappeared deep into the undergrowth, but the buck only retreated a little way into the trees.
I lay down on the ground, making myself as unhuman-like as possible. A few seconds later, the buck re-emerged and high-stepped towards me cautiously, until the shutter of my camera startled him back into the forest.
Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus) male
Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus) male
Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus) male
Roe Deer are Britain's smallest native deer, weighing only 10-25kg, and are the only hooved mammals which exhibit delayed implantation: an egg fertilized during the summer doesn't begin development until January.
This male has 3-pronged antlers which means he's at least 3 years old. The furry 'velvet' covering his antlers supplies blood to the antlers as they grow and will be shed within a few weeks.
Mohican Woods
Scottish Blackface Sheep
Snow-melt puddles littered the moorland on the Slacks. The only signs of life were a pair of Red Grouse (Lagopus lagopus) which exploded loudly from the heather.
The Test marsh
In the rocky moorland to the north-east of the Test, a Brown Hare leapt up and sprang like a gazelle over the heather.
It left behind a pile of fresh droppings:
Brown Hare (Lepus europaeus) droppings
Bombhole near the Test (OS map ref. NS 476 741)
The Clydebank Blitz (13th & 14th March, 1941) left the Kilpatrick Hills pitted with bombholes and the odd piece of rusty bombshell can still be found lying on the moor.
Psathyrella sp. at Little Round Top Wood
Jackdaws (Corvus monedula)
Pairs of Jackdaws nest on every rooftop on my street, they walk the pavements and roads with a bobbing swagger and fill the air with their pleasant calls - an almost musical "chak!" - which gives them their onomatopoeic name.
No comments:
Post a Comment