Fallow deer

So… less than four weeks after our trip to Richmond Park, I decided to photograph the fallow deer somewhere much more local. Knole consists of nearly 950 acres of park and woodland, along with a popular golf course and 600 year old estate, originally built as an archbishop’s palace. Knole is the only surviving medieval deer park in Kent and is home to both fallow and Japanese sika deer. Unlike Richmond Park, the deer wander freely round the entire park, which meant I had to find them first.

I arrived early on a beautiful late October day and quickly realised it was going to be tough. Carrying my camera and 600mm lens in my rucksack and my heavy Manfrotto tripod by hand was hard going. At least I got a break every time I spotted some deer and set up my gear. The first subject was this wonderful fallow buck in the two images below. He had settled down well away from the track and was almost hidden by a fallen tree. It took ages for me to creep close enough, but once I was in place, he didn’t seem to mind me at all.

In the second photograph, the buck has turned to watch as a doe and fawn made their way through the undergrowth behind. I couldn’t see them at first, but they suddenly appeared in a clearing to my left and I had to adjust my camera quickly to get the image featured at the top.

The next photographs were all taken not far away and are of the same doe and fawn, but a different buck. Once I had taken this set, they moved on to join a much larger group. I caught up with them briefly, but then lost them as I tried circling round to get the light in a better position. I then had a couple of fruitless hours hunting up and down the various woodland paths. It would have been a lovely walk if my gear hadn’t been so heavy.

Returning to the path that would have taken me to my little car, I decided to try the original location one more time. The white buck had long since left the spot behind the fallen tree, but I spotted a familiar face about 100 yards away in a clearing. The sun was setting to the left, bathing the bracken in a beautiful golden light. My only problem was that having spent so much time with this buck earlier in the day, he no longer regarded me as a threat and kept his head down eating grass. I had to get his attention somehow and so I whistled. It only worked once, but that was all I needed.