Description | This is the doe that hasn't paired off with the buck. I suspect looking at her that she is younger than the other doe that is hanging round with the buck. The other doe is also looking gravid at present, whereas this one is still sleek and trim. I was wondering if she is related to the other pair, and hence solitary, but don't know enough about roe deer behaviour. I managed to get quite close. Although she was looking directly at me, she didn't seem to see me clearly. She was very alert to even gentle footfall and would look up at each step, but by taking a step, waiting till she settled and then moving again I was able to close down to 50m. It felt closer, but that's what the lens says. At one point she stared at me, cocked her head and then started walking slowly towards me, zig zagging and moving her head from side to side as if not sure what she could see. Wearing my green jacket and trousers all done up, and not moving at all, with the camera firmly held to my eye in the twilight, backlit, I think she was struggling to isolate me visually. Scent wouldn't have helped her as I was downwind, it was only her hearing that was making her suspicious. I managed to get a lot of frames without scaring her and was able to retreat once I'd got what I wanted without scaring her. Notable that with the cold spring she still hasn't shed her winter coat fully, and is still quite fluffy, if a little ragged. |
Artist | Rob Daykin |
License | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License |
Make | OLYMPUS CORPORATION |
Model | E-M1MarkIII |
Lens Model | OLYMPUS M.300mm F4.0 |
Focal Length | 300.0 mm |
F Number | 4.0 |
Aperture | 4.0 |
ISO | 2500 |
Shutter Speed | 1/250 |