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This year, with travel options limited, I was asked once again by Wildife Worldwide to lead dedicated deer photography workshops in the heart of the New Forest. With permission from Forestry England, I led a number of workshops alongside Ben Sutcliffe. We had some crazy weather, but some great deer encounters with the red deer during the rut. Unlike the deer parks of London, these deer are completely wild and it takes patience to slowly make an approach. The key thing is to ensure that you don't sneak up on them and that they know where you are, while also being aware of the wind direction. Anyway, here are just a few shots from my time in the forest.      After some incredible misty action, we were treated to incredible evening action too. It is fabulous to witness this behaviour and enjoy the most remarkable lighting - combine that with a mist and you can't really get it any better.     It was an absolute honour to lead a number of workshops and I was delighted for the clients who got some brilliant images.
We hope to run some more workshops in 2022, but it will depend on my availability. Please get in touch if you want to find out more.
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With Covid-19 restrictions still in place across the world during the late autumn, there was only one thing to do - explore the ancient landscapes of the New Forest in search of deer. This former royal hunting ground is home to wild herds of red and fallow deer (as well as sika around the Bealieu area) and if you know where to look you can capture some stunning imagery. Deer are notoriously skittish and it is essential to keep your distance and let the deer come to you. If you try and follow deer, you will only spook them. Most of these images were taken when I was on my own, but a couple were taken while leading workshops for Wildlife Worldwide.     There are only around 150 red deer in the New Forest and their population is strictly controlled by the national park authority, so it is always worth keeping your eyes peeled for the fallow deer if the reds manage to elude you.    If you would like to join me on a dedicated deer photography workshop in 2021, please contact me for more information.
I am always astounded at the lack of knowledge regarding local wildlife, this really hit me during the annual deer rut when I said I was going to the New Forest to photograph Red Deer. People didn't believe me, saying that there aren't any wild Red Deer in the south of the UK except for on Exmoor. Well I was determined to show them that there are in fact Red Deer only a stones throw from Southampton and Bournemouth. I spent a couple of weekends searching for this native deer species and was in luck. As I reached my usual patch for the Fallow Deer, I heard a deer barking, but this was no Fallow Deer buck. This was an altogether deeper sound that resonated through the trees. I headed to the edge of the woodland, where the sound came from, and to my delight there were two large stags strutting their stuff.  This was the scene I was presented with (above) and then spent the next two hours stalking the larger of the two stags and his group of females. I had to work hard and a constantly changing wind direction made life particularly difficult.     The Red Deer of the New Forest are quite transient but are only found in the South Western side of the forest, sadly their population is controlled to stop interbreeding with the introduced Sika Deer found near Beaulieu. I was extremely lucky to get this close to such large wild mammals in the UK but I would like to stress this series of images took over 3 hours to capture, with long periods of stalking required.
If you see any deer in the New Forest, please don't walk straight towards them, instead make sure the wind is in your favour and keep yourself hidden. It is usually best to let the wildlife come to you, be patient and above all just enjoy what you see. As I am sure many of you are well aware, I am now back at home in the UK ... it all seems pretty surreal to be back in the real world! Not to fear, I hope to be travelling again soon and taking plenty of exciting images for you all. Whilst I have been looking for work, I have of course been out and about with the camera. I thought I would head out and see any of the locals, who are they I hear you ask? No more wombats, kangaroos or even a Platypus, not in this neck of the woods anyway! Nothing too exciting you might think, well if you like deer then it is exciting enough. Roe Deer are always close by to my Hampshire home and so I went to one of my favourite spots to see if I could find any of my old subjects. I didn't manage any shots of my trusty local doe but I did find a handsome young male ...  Roe Deer  Roe Deer Sadly, the weather hasn't been overly cooperative since my return. In fact, it has been pretty terrible and it really hasn't given me the opportunity to make the most of the longer evenings. In the last week I have changed my subject choice slightly, I am still photographing deer but I have to travel slightly further afield to the New Forest and Petworth Park. The Fallow Deer is actually an introduced species to the UK, thought to have been brought over from mainland Europe by the Normans. I personally think they are a welcome addition, a beautiful and rather majestic deer that loves the woodland habitats across the New Forest and elsewhere in the UK.  Fallow Deer The image above is the only one taken in Petworth Park, sadly due to the area being popular with dog walkers the deer are constantly disturbed and rarely left in peace. I decided that I didn't want to add any further stress upon the large deer population and I haven't returned since. All of the following images are taken of wild Fallow Deer which are in know way tame or habituated to people. I have spent around 16 hours collecting this mini-portfolio and I am looking to spend more time photographing the rut later in the year.  Fallow Deer  Fallow Deer  Fallow Deer  Fallow Deer  White Fallow Deer  Fallow Deer It is incredibly hard to get close to these amazing creatures, I have to be constantly paying attention to the wind direction, always ensuring that my scent is being blown away from the deer. As well as this I have to be aware of my silhouette, if you walk through the forest the deer will simply run, you must make sure that you move slowly and keep a low profile at all times. With a bit of luck, practice, behavioural knowledge and a lot of patience you can also get some lovely portraits.   Finally, here is my favourite image so far, I just love the composition as it shows the animal in its proper habitat, I even like the fact it is being pestered by a buzz of flies ...  My favourite I will be continuing to build a portfolio of images of both Fallow and Roe Deer over the coming months so keep an eye on the blog for any developments.
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