Cervine and Feline
I have remarked, from time to time, that we have seen deer around our home and, sometimes, in the garden but have never been in the right place at the right time with a camera.
But today, when we were in the kitchen, we saw a Muntjac Deer in the garden and did have a camera handy. These are the resultant pictures.
The deer was eating some of the fallen apples and, as you can see, completely ignored my neighbour’s cat and the cat completely ignored the deer.
And then, of course, there’s the inevitable picture of me taking a picture of the deer.
4 thoughts on “Cervine and Feline”
During my 2 1/2 years in England I only saw one deer, and I almost hit it with my car! Here in Wisconsin 40K collide with vehicles each year. We have whitetail deer which are considerably larger than the one pictured. We probably have deer in our backyard nightly.
Wild turkeys are frequent visitors. One late February afternoon 2 years ago we counted 53 going through our yard. Our shih tzu, Tasha, was taken aback. She usually scares off turkeys! Not this time. She just stood looking out our patio door in amazement watching them walk through HER yard.
Old Guy USA(Quote)
We have only two native species of deer in this country – Red Deer and Roe Deer. Red Deer are the largest and are social in that they form groups at least some of the time whereas Roe Deer are the size of Muntjacs are are definitely not social. They each have their own territory and defend it against other Roe Deer.
Fallow Deer, such as those shown in the Stamford Pages (Burghley House) were introduced by the Romans and so have been here about 2000 years. They are herd animals and are the type that are usually kept in parkland although there are many living wild. These deer can be found wild in and around Epping Forest and the New Forest for example.
Muntjac were introduced about 100 years ago. Some escaped of course and are now well established in the wild. They, like the Roe Deer, are solitary animals and are not seen in groups.
Roe Deer and Muntjac tend to be secretive and so are seldom seen.
The only Turkeys we have over here form the current government.
Barry(Quote)
that really is a small deer! I have seen several behind my house, white tail; they must be twice that size. Do the horns get much bigger?
Annecyborn(Quote)
They are about the size of a very large dog.
The antlers don’t get any bigger. These are essentially jungle animals from Vietnam and large antlers would be a hindrance when pushing through the undergrowth. They tend to favour dense undergrowth over here so the same would apply.
Unusually for deer they also have tusks (Canine teeth) and will charge if cornered and can inflict an unpleasant wound with those tusks.
Stroppy little blighters. :sad:
Barry(Quote)