Roe Deer - the next generation
Bambeano: Roe deer doe with fawn only a few weeks old in a crop of winter beans
Roe deer females come into season in July and August when the annual rut takes place. Although they are mated during this time, the embryo is not implanted until later in the year so that the next generation is born in good weather and plentiful food supply, in May and June.
In the weeks before the females become receptive to the males (known as Bucks), the bucks check the scent of the female’s urine making a characterstic turning up of the upper lip and raising their heads, often with eyes partially or fully closed while they assess the scent. During this time they will often be seen chasing does who are coming into season, around in circles, often for minutes at a time, many times per day. This results in both animals becoming exhausted and I have often seen bucks panting for minutes while they try to recover from their exertions.
Buck scent checking to see if female is in oestrus
Once the does are fully receptive the bucks don’t let them out of their sight. They stay as close as possible to them, following them around all day, often chasing them, again it seems the doe often runs in circles. This occurs until the doe stands still and allows the buck to mount her. This happens multiple times during the day or so that she is fully in oestrus.
Roe deer mating
Once mated and out of oestrus the doe’s and bucks rest up for a few weeks. Bucks however move their attention from protecting their females to protecting their territory and boarder disputes with other bucks become more frequent in September.
Boarder dispute between two evenly matched bucks
Once the embryo is implanted the foetus grows until birth usually from mid May to mid June. The mothers conceal their young known as fawns for many weeks to keep them safe from predators. This makes them very hard to even catch a glimpse of, let alone capture clean images. I always get a big thrill from seeing young fawns and capturing a few good images has given me immense satisfaction. The image called Bambeano at the top of this blog was captured in June 2020 when the doe was moving her fawn away from a prowling dog fox which I had seen a few minutes earlier in the wood adjacent to her field. She was on edge and clearly decided that moving towards me was less threatening than staying nearer to the fox. The image below as captured in August 2022 of a very healthy 3 month old fawn.
