September’s stag do
HOLD tight, It’s that exciting time of year when the males of our largest land mammal, the red deer, will be on the look out for mates, and make no mistake, the annual rut, is no gentle wooing with a light lunch by the loch, this is a noisy and boisterous affair, and for the wildlife voyeur, not to be missed.
The breeding season, or the rut, occurs from the end of September to November, when stags return to the hind’s home range and compete for them by engaging in elaborate displays of dominance including roaring, grunting, parallel walks, and fighting.
Sometimes the clash of their giant antlers echo across the landscape and their breath steams from their nostrils like smoke.
Serious injury and death can result during these exchanges.
To the victor goes the spoils and the dominant stag earns exclusive mating with the hinds.
If this ‘Monarch of the Glen’, so-called in Landseer’s iconic Victorian painting, was a King, it’s fairly obvious he’d be Henry VIII.
Despite being sexually mature before their second birthday in productive woodland populations, only stags over five years old tend to mate.
In woodland populations, hinds over one year old give birth to a single calf after an eight-month gestation, between mid-May to mid-July.
Puberty may be delayed until three years old in hill hinds, which may give birth only once every two or three years.
Some Scottish hill populations suffer heavy infant mortality at, and shortly after birth and during their first winter.
Lifespan can be, exceptionally, up to 18 years, in males this can result in some amazing sets of antlers, as a new set grows each year.
In woodland, red deer are largely solitary, or occur as mother and calf groups.
On open ground, larger single sex groups assemble, only mixing during the rut, and in the Highlands of Scotland, large groups may persist for most of the year.
This herding can be a remarkable sight, as with no front-line predator snapping at their heels, red deer in some places have multiplied massively, leading sometimes to starvation during very snowy winters, as there is not enough food to sustain them.
Red deer are active throughout the 24-hour period but make more use of open spaces during the hours of darkness in populations experiencing frequent disturbance.
Peak times of activity are at dawn and dusk. In the Highlands of Scotland red deer use the open hills during the day and descend to lower ground during the night.
I have been fortunate to see and photograph many red deer over the years, but one of my most memorable involved my daughter Niamh stealing a march on me yet again.
She has a habit of doing this, for example in Finnish Lapland aged eight she spotted a tree-creeper before me, in the Western Isles she was way ahead of me with puffins, and again some years later in Scotland again looking to photograph red deer.
Having failed to get a shot on our cold, wet and wild trek towards the forest, where the deer often emerge, we returned to the vehicle.
After a further five minutes, with the camera beneath my seat, my Niamh shouted, I think, with a hint of smugness, “Dad, deer!”
I looked to the right, expecting to see the animals in the distance, but to my delight, they were that close to the side of the road I was able to fill the frame with a young stag and hind.
Believe me, this does not happen very often, and the event was rightly toasted with some mighty fine local malt, The Old Pulteney, distilled in Wick.
Back at the Keiss Harbour House I reminded Niamh that good sightings need a reward, and I therefore secured a position near a seaward-window, with the whiskey and cold haggis, and proceeded to raise a glass to a mighty fine day while quoting Robert Burns’ Address to the Haggis...
Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face, Great chieftain o the puddin’-race...
Niamh was happy with chocolate and we were soon joined by an adult grey seal, who popped up in the harbour with impeccable timing, as did a brace of eider ducks and a lone cormorant.
As I’ve always said; if you make the effort, you see stuff.
Check out www.rspb. org and www.bds.org.uk for rutting sites near you.
The RSPB photograph here was taken in the Peak District, but your best bet is still Scotland.