RED DEER rut at Minsmere - 8/10/2017

Okay, so this time we knew the RED DEER rut was happening and today was a great opportunity to witness it. The heaths around Minsmere and Dunwich were the best location for finding them, one of the largest lowland herds in England. However over the years culls have taken their toll on the herd, and there are a barely a fraction of the 400+ found five or so years ago.
We started the search at the lookout point on Westleton Heath, a small hillock on the edge of an old quarry. We were quite surprised to actually see a deer up close, a young stag, sprinting across the grasslands. We later found out that this animal was scared away from another herd by a larger male, and he just kept running and not looked back.
With nothing else much to see we headed off west, taking the path around the grasslands before hitting the Minsmere road. We didn't see any more deer and neither did anyone we met. We saw three deer safari 4x4s, those belonging to the RSPB, and apparently they were scaring away all the deer, so whenever one of them turned up it was always a bad sign.
On joining the Minsmere road we finally found a herd of deer, a decent number of hinds with a massive male. Annoyingly they were so far away, in a kind of haze, my camera had difficulty in focusing on them. So here is a record shot:

 

 

We took the Minsmere road until we met the bridleway, which winds its way through Minsmere's back woods to Dunwich Heath. Its a great path with heathland as far as the eye can see, with a mix of oak, birch and pine trees. From time to time a stag deer would bellow out, quite a haunting sound.

We came to another area of grassland as we entered the outskirts of Dunwich Heath. Here we found another herd, this time quite a bit smaller, with a smaller stag guarding them. They kept to a kind of depression so even though we walked around this field, we could only see them from one spot. Here are a few record shots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The path took us from Dunwich Heath to Mount Pleasant Farm, an area of heathland restoration, bought back around fifteen years ago. Its amazing how an area of intensively managed farmland can be turned back to heath in such a short time. A short sward of heather mixed in with areas of acid grassland dominated the landscape. The path then led back to Westleton Heath, and we didn't see any more deer, but there were more people about.

The eventual route we took was a square that skirted the area of mainly grassy habitat favoured by the deer. The deer seemed to be mainly fenced in here, where they were mostly kept away from humans. It meant there were few places to observe them, despite the large number of people who tried, but also created a safe haven for the deer, and helped preserve this place as one of the last areas of wilderness in lowland England.