Deer in the forest.

Roe deer are particularly numerous in the coniferous forests of northern Britain, but are shy creatures that will disappear into the trees if disturbed. They are most likely to be seen as they cross a forest ride. At about two years old a roe buck acquires a territory that he normally occupies for life. The size varies, and may cover between 12-75 acres. During spring and summer, the buck patrols of his territory, marking it by rubbing scent from his head glands against trees and fighting with intruding bucks. Roe does also have territories, but do not defend them. They often overlap with those of other does and several bucks. Deer of any species may cause considerable damage to trees by fraying bark when they clean their antlers, by breaking branches when they thrash with their antlers at rutting time and also by stripping bark to eat.  A tree`s growth may be distorted, and if bark is rubbed or stripped off all  round, the tree will die. Deer also browse on accessible shoots, large deer reaching as high as 6-7ft when standing on their hind legs. In commercial forests the damage can be serious and new plantations in traditional red deers areas are normally fenced off. All deer like to browse on the brambles that grow in clearings, with roe deer being especially fond of them.

The cervidae family.

Part two the roe deer.

The roe deer is Britain's smallest indigenous deer. They are mainly found in woodlands,grassland and on moors. They feed mainly on tree shoots and shrubs, and can sometimes be seen feeding with muntjac deer. The male roe deer is called a buck, the female is called a doe and the young are killed kids. The roe deer rut isn`t the spectacular affair of the fallow,sika or red deer ruts.During early summer the males will clash over their territory, this is much earlier than any other deer. The males will rarely fight. When the males and the females finally come together  they end up in whats called a roe ring, its then up to the female as to when they finally mate. This is when they go round in circles and flatten all of the vegetation in a figure of eight. The roe deer has virtually no tail and are a lovely fox red colour with a buff patch on its rump,this changes to white in winter. The doe has a long tuft of hair  hanging on her rump. The roe deers coat changes to a greyish colour during winter.They are the only British deer to have antlers clean of velvet when they grow again around January. Their antlers are cast in October or November, they have on them whats called a purlong, this is used to scrape against a bark stripped tree to mark a territory, as in between his antlers he has a scent gland.  The purlong is along the inside and the outside of his antlers, the male normally has three points on  his antlers. The roe deer kids are born singly in June with white spots on them, the hind will have up to three and its not un-common for the hind to give birth to twins. The roe deer is the only British hoofed mammal in which implantation of the egg is delayed. The implantation of the fertilized egg occurs in December. At first the hind will leave her kids in long grass for long periods during the day. This is mainly for protection as they are quite small and frail on their feet. The buck is about seventy five centimeters tall at the shoulder with the doe being about seventy centimeters tall. The buck weighs about twenty five kilograms. They make a short barking noise when they are calling out.

Things to look our for in august

A slow worm

Roe deer`s are very territorial in the summer and rut during August, They are not as aggressive as the red and fallow deer ruts. The two male (bucks) roe deers do not normally fight they just normally walk around in circles which are called roe rings. They then win the right to mate with the female (doe) who will decide when they mate. The kids are born in June because the does have delayed implantation of the embryo which i will talk about in a later blog. Grass snakes and slow worms have their young during august, The grass snakes hatch out of their eggs and slow worms break out of the membrane that they are born in. Rough grass lands,heath and woodlands are some of the places they may be seen. Look at the oak trees you will see a second growth of the year. New fresh stems and leaves at the tips of the branches. These are known as the lammas growth. They are called the lammas growth because it ties in with the pagan festival of lammas. By the end of August toads will be heading back to their hibernation sites. These sites could be as close as the rockery in the back of your garden. August is a great time of the year to look out for cinnabar moths.Their caterpillar's have been enjoying life on common ragwort but now its time for the adult`s to take over. They may be seen in meadows and espeicially on knapweed. Crickets and grass hoppers can be seen and heard during August. Grass hoppers have short antennae and crickets have long atennae. The common green grass hopper can be heard during August if you have a keen ear.(all the crickets and grasshoppers have different calls) The common green grasshopper is smaller and greener than common field grass hopper and can be found in grassy areas throughout Britain. Rowan berries ripen this month and their distinctive red colouration brightens up our countryside and tells us all that Autumn is around the corner. Longhorn beetles, Woodmice, Bumble bees, Common wasps and speckled wood butterflies enjoy the splender of blackberries that are amongst our hedgerows during August. When you go out blackberry picking remember to leave some for our friends in the hedgerows. Willow herb flowers are full of lovely colours this month along with may weeds. Listen out for shrews while taking a stroll in the country side, Shrews have a high pitched squeak and they can often be heard as they run through the tunnels in the long grass searching for earthworms and invertbrates. Because shrews have to find almost their own bodyweight in food everyday to survive they are always on the move looking for prey to eat. Look out for brimstone butterflies as they look for food on sunny days before they get ready to hibernate. The brimstone butterfly is the only member of the white (pierinae) family to hibernate, All the other member which also includes the yellows (coliadinae) and a sub-family (dismorphiinae) of which the wood white is the only British member hibernate as chrsalises. House martins and swallows may be having late broods this year as they were quite late arriving. They will be fine though, They will start migrating along with swifts during late September and early October.

A muntjac deer.