Bel's Wood

I have enjoyed watching the deer throughout the year both live at the wood and through many videos and stills. I have put together this series of images captured over the year to show the difference between red and roe deer and to show something of their lifecycle. Red deer female March 2021 with juvenile from last year Their long faces and thick necks distinguish a red deer from roe deer. They also bigger but not seeing them together means this doesn't help as much as you might think when looking at photographs. In the flesh there is a difference with the red deer being noisier and they feel like a larger animal when running through the undergrowth. The red deer is the largest land mammal in the UK according to the British Deer Society https://bds.org.uk/information-advice/about-deer/deer-species/red-deer/   Mature female red deer at night   Standing in profile showing the shape makes for easy identification  Roe deer are slighter and they have a distinctive face with white patche

Having missed the slow unfold of Spring this year due to my fractured ankle, I have spent lots of time at Bel's Wood enjoying summer emerging. It has been windy but the storms have passed and there has been a good mix of rain and sunshine so that the beck has plenty of water. Flowers are out in abundance     Heath bedstraw Thistle with a white tailed bumblebee                                             The fox gloves are grand this year      Water forget-me-knot growing in a boggy area Buttercup       Dog rose.                           Water mint growing in the boggy areas          An abundance of honeysuckle with two different varieties Broom It's bracken time of year again and not having been up there as much as last year the paths are getting overgrown rapidly. Also, now the gamekeeper is no longer raising pheasants for the autumn shoot, there are no vehicles on the paths. I am hoping to secure the Woodland Creation Grant to fund some bracken clearance this summer. Meanwh