Doe a Deer, Three Female Deer

I've recently been visiting a new site close to where I live. It has a small stream running between woodland on one side and a meadow on the other. The brook has kingfishers and dippers and in the woods there is a pond which attracts herons and ducks. Ive spent a lot of time sat down by the stream photographing the dippers and grey wagtails and hoping a kingfisher might visit the perches I've put out.

Also every time I've been I've seen roe deer in the meadow or on the hill above. On my very first visit I saw 5 females and a male along with a couple of younger females.

For the last couple of weeks I've been planning to sit out on the hillside in all my camouflage and see if the deer will come to me. Last weekend I put my plan in motion.

I made an early start on a misty morning and got myself into position before it was fully light. I had my full gilly suit on plus a camo blanket over my tripod and camera and I was ready to see if anything would happen.

I had only been there about half an hour when I noticed some movement among the grass and shrubs in front of me, and I could just make out two adults and a juvenile grazing and slowly moving toward me.

One of them seemed to notice there was something new in the field and stared intently at my hideout. Unfortunately for me a barking dog spooked them and they bounced away into the mist.

I thought that would probably be it but I had an apple and a mars bar in my pocket and my new thermals were keeping me snug and warm, so I settled in to see if they would come back, and not too much later I was rewarded when one of the females stepped out of the grass.

She was very aware of something not being quite right and even though she was grazing, she was also on high alert, letting out quite loud barks which I think were a warning to the younger deer just out of my line of sight.

She got closer and closer and I had to shorten my lens to get her all in the picture. Finally she seemed to realise this new bush in the field wasn't everything it seemed to be and after a few more barks she disappeared again.