Pere David's Deer

The third species of deer in Margam Park is Pere David's Deer, Elaphurus davidianus, an endangered species apparantly originating in China. This docile species seems to spend most of its time wallowing in mud - what a life!

Anyway, here's a male grazing:

Doing what this species seems to do best - nothing:



 A couple of shots of the smaller female:

Another big stag:



Fallow Deer

Some Fallow Deer shots form my trip to Margam Park on Wednesday:-

On arrival, I saw this family group in front of the castle:

A close-up of the stag:

There was no sign of any rutting, and lounging about seemed to be the order of the day:

I followed this stag with a broken antler about for a while:

 I would have liked a sunset sky in the background for this silhouettte, but, as the park closed at 4.30 p.m., there wasn't much chance of that:

 He wandered into this small wooded area:

 As I began heading for the exit, I came upon this group peering curiously at me:

The over-the-shoulder look:

There's one more species of deer in the park, which I'll post later.

Red Deer

I spent a couple of hours in Margam Park yesterday (seeing a half-dozen or so late Swallows on my way there), hoping to see some rutting deer. I seemed to have missed all the action for this year, so I had to settle for these more static shots:-

This young stag seemed to view me as a potential rival, and advanced aggressively towards me, grunting a bit, before recoiling in horror when he realised how ugly I was:

A Fallow Deer is in the background here:

This big boy was shepherding a harem of perhaps thirty hinds (I occasionally find myself in that situation; then I wake up):



Some of his 'ladies' came for a closer look at this strange creature crouching behind a tripod:



Margam Park Deer

This afternoon, I made a trip to Margam Park, a large country park near Port Talbot. The most prominent building in the park is Margam Castle:



I was hoping to spot a few rutting deer, and hopefully capture some of the action. However, four hours of wandering the fields revealed no sign of rutting at all. Either I was in the wrong place, or I was too late. Oh well! Anyway, I managed a few pics. The most unusual of the three species of deer in the park is the Chinese native, Pere David's Deer. Here are a couple of shots of stags:

And one of a female:

In their native land, they are said to prefer marshland, and they certainly seem to favour the damper areas of the park. Here are a couple wallowing in the mud:

And a youngster of the same species:

There were large numbers of Fallow Deer roaming the grassland:

The third species present is the native Red Deer. Here is a young stag:

And two young chaps looking curiously in my direction:

And a group of nervous-looking hinds, some watching me, and others watching a man with a dog to my left:

Finally, one of the larger stags I saw today - peeing in the rain:

So, not the action shots I was hoping for, but - there's always next year!