You'll have to take my word for it but..... (1 Viewer)

[Yelvertoft]

..... the brown blob in the back left corner of the lawn, about to disappear behind the hedge at the bottom of the garden, is a Muntjac buck deer.

Got up at 5:30 the other morning and was standing in the bathroom when I noticed a large'ish brown shape moving around the lawn in the back garden. I though "I bet I know what that is" and ran for the camera. I just about managed to grab this very, very fuzzy shot before it disappeared. There wasn't a lot of light and there wasn't time to do much beyond point and click, hence the poor shot.

We've lived here for nearly 10 years and it's only the 3rd time we've seen deer in the garden. 1 roe deer last year and another Muntjac about 6 years ago. I was shaking with excitement after seeing this one. It had a good wander round before deciding my flowers weren't worth eating and wandered out again. I nearly forgot to take the picture before it went. We live on the edge of a town, by no means in the middle of nowhere and it's really nice to see these wild animals so close.

Beautiful animals.

Duncan.

 

[helenol]

Nice one Duncan. Wait until the female brings the young along, as well as the male. Proper little family circle it is!

 

[Gill Osborne]

How lovely to get one in your garden! I've yet to see a Muntjac but live in hope...one day!

You've got a lovely sized garden there....with loads of surrounding trees and shrubs too - do you get much birdlife in the garden?
Perhaps you should keep the camera ready by the window all the time...the deer may be visiting a lot more than you originally thought!

I've got my feeders at the front of the house and always keep my binoculars at the ready now....caught loads of nice birds which I woul;d have probably missed had I had to get the bins out from their case in the bedroom.

Gill

 

[Yelvertoft]

It came back this morning!

How lovely to get one in your garden! I've yet to see a Muntjac but live in hope...one day!

You've got a lovely sized garden there....with loads of surrounding trees and shrubs too - do you get much birdlife in the garden?
Perhaps you should keep the camera ready by the window all the time...the deer may be visiting a lot more than you originally thought!

I've got my feeders at the front of the house and always keep my binoculars at the ready now....caught loads of nice birds which I woul;d have probably missed had I had to get the bins out from their case in the bedroom.

Gill

There I was this morning, waiting for the toaster to pop up, casually looking out of the kitchen window when I saw movement at the bottom of the garden. This was bigger than the rabbit we had visit earlier on in the week. I cautiously went into the dining room to get a better view and saw a Muntjac browsing around with its head poking into my hedge. I rushed off to get the camera and thankfully it was still there when I got back. It was probably just as well that the camera wasn't in its usual place, I would have had to go into full view of the patio doors and would have frightened it off. As it was, I could peep around the corner of the door without being in full view and take pictures by holding the camera "around the corner" whilst remaining mostly hidden.

The deer slowly browsed its way up the garden for about a minute until it was nibbling the tops of my heather , only about 12-15ft from the back of the house. I took quite a few shots and then moved a little to try and get to my scope which was further into the room. As soon as I moved the deer picked its head up and froze. I froze too and we stared each other straight in the eye for what seemed a very long time. It was wonderful to be so close to a truly wild animal and look it straight in the eye. The deer decided it was being a bit too brave and bounded off to the bottom of the garden, flashing its white rump as it went.

An early morning shot again so not much light, full optical zoom on the camera with not the most stable of holds on the camera so it's a bit shaky - I was shaking too! But it's the first time I've managed to be able to prove to my sceptical work colleagues that I really have had deer in the garden. Only the fourth time I've seen one in the garden in 10 years here so it's a rare treat. Probably the same one as I saw a few weeks ago but it may be a different one.

Gill, as to your query on the amount of birdlife we get, see post number 36 in this thread.
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=31807&page=2&pp=25
We don't get a huge amount of variety normally, especially in recent weeks as the magpies that have been nesting somewhere in the garden seem to have scared a lot of the other regulars away. We're lucky to have some very large trees just beyond our back boundary that are fantastic for birds (and squirrels) and the farmland beyond is farmed in an eco-friendly way.

The house was previously owned by a retired couple who kept the garden immaculate. We've, erm, let things grow a bit more, and also taken out a lot of the flower beds and high maintenance bits. What we're left with is quite enough to keep me busy over the weekends. Besides, it's a lot more wildlife friendly. Must trim back that pittisporum!

Regards,

Duncan.

 

[Stuart Watson]

Well done with the photos - I`m so jealous, i wish i had any kind of mammal in my garden - never mind a deer.

 

[helenol]

This is the muntjac in my garden. The young one is doing really well and is a daily visitor. The male also tags along too.

 

[Eagle]

This is the muntjac in my garden. The young one is doing really well and is a daily visitor. The male also tags along too.

Bloomin' eck H that cat has growed!!

 

[helenol]

Bloomin' eck H that cat has growed!!

Ah yes, that's little git nr. 2.

 

[Yelvertoft]

Helenol,

Such beautiful animals, you are very, very lucky to have them as regulars, still, it does seem your garden is very "natural"

Stuart,

Regarding other mammals, we have a mouse that regularly visits the patch under the seed feeder to get what it can. I went to get something out of the top drawer in an old kitchen sink unit in the garage the other week and found where it had set up home. Left hand side larder, right hand side nest. The old cutlery drawer had very convenient partitions to allow this.

It serves me right, I'd kept the bird-peanut bag out of its usual secure storage for a couple of weeks because at the time there wasn't enough room in the cupboard. I don't know how many nuts a mouse can store in its cheeks in a single trip, but this one had been very, very busy stockpiling in the drawer on the other side of the garage. Everything originally in the drawer that could be chewed and eaten had been chewed and eaten. I guess there was about 2kg of nuts in there, many fell into the drawer below as I managed to force this drawer open.

I cleared it all out and have kept it clear - the mouse tried to re-establish the nest for a few days but has since moved somewhere else (probably still in the garage, but I can't find it). Oh, and I keep the bird food far more securely tucked away now at all times.

Used to have a bat (variety unknown) in the loft a few years back, I still see a few flying around now and again, but not often. We had a pair of rabbits living in the garden for a few months last year but they fell victim to the traffic. We had another briefly visit for a couple of days this week and I managed to get a digiscoped shot of it.

That's about it for the garden mammals list.

BTW Stuart, there isn't a deer in the garden shot, that was posted for Gill's benefit.

Duncan.

P.S. I forgot, we also have hedgehogs. I remember cycling home from work very late one evening in the dark last autumn. As I turned into my driveway, the headlight picked out what I thought was a large ball of moss on the drive; we often have large clumps fall off the roof. I bent down to pick it up and it moved!

 

[helenol]

Helenol,

Such beautiful animals, you are very, very lucky to have them as regulars, still, it does seem your garden is very "natural"

Duncan.

What a diplomat!

Actually I live in the woods, so yes, you can't get more natural than that! Almost all the garden consists of woodland.

 

[Stuart Watson]

Too many cats come to my concrete slab garden - six different ones that i know of, they like to nap in the sun in amongst all the small shrubs on the walled planted part beside my plastic pond. I think it`s because all the surrounding gardens have young kids or dogs and theres also the chance of a fresh sparrow supper.
You`ve also reminded me - bats (and swift)live in the derelict church built into the tenemants opposite me and they sometimes fly around my garden. Excellent