Having recorded some of these small deer on our trail cameras in the past year today we were lucky enough to bump into this lone Muntjac while looking for fallow deer in the New Forest this morning. These shy deer are small and are only about the size of a small dog.
Muntjac is mainly a solitary deer. They use scent to communicate their territories. Individuals do this by rubbing the long v-shaped slits on their foreheads where their frontal glands are onto the ground or branches. They also have two large glands located just in front of the eyes, called the pre-orbital glands. Muntjac frequently lick these with their long tongues, this is thought to help them recognise their own scent.
Video film of Muntjac spotted today repeated in slow motion.
In 1079 when William The Conqueror named the area his ‘new hunting forest’, close to 1,000 years later his ‘New Forest’ remains as a National Park. The ancient systems established by William The Conqueror to protect and manage the woodlands and heaths are still in place today.
Hunting Deer required planning, good horsemanship and the ability to handle weapons. It was dangerous. King William’s second son, Richard, and third son, William, were killed whilst hunting in the New Forest as was his grandson, Richard. Hunting was seen at that time as a method of practising many of the skills required for battle.
Fallow deer are today the most commonly seen deer in the New Forest. Numbers are maintained at about 1,300 on the Crown lands. Although not a native species to the UK, they have been present since Norman times and have the longest continuous lineage of any deer species in the Forest.
This time of year the Deer keep in their herds – Stags together separate from the young female deer.
Great Crested Grebe in toned down non-breading Winter plumage.
Then it was gone! Great Crested Grebes dive to feed and also to escape, preferring this to flying. On land, they are clumsy because their feet are placed so far back on their bodies.
My first full post of the New Year records a morning around Eyworth Pond in the New Forest. All the usual local birds give a splash of colour on another dull day. Also, a few young Fallow deer were on the move on the edge of the woodland.
On this dull Wednesday, we stopped off at our favourite New Forest Churches.
St Nicholas Church Brockenhurst is the oldest church in the Forest. It is positioned on a mound, on the edge of the village which may have been a sacred site since pre-Christian times. A church is recorded at Brockenhurst in Domesday but the original Christian church was quite possibly established by Augustinians who established the priory at Christchurch. This church never seems to change except with the seasons. today it looks exactly the same as it did in 1980 when we got married there.
Male and female Blackbird.
War Graves in the Churchyard.
Details re the war graves copied from Commonwealth war graves commission webpage.
“Due to its proximity to the port of Southampton, its railway connections and an abundance of large houses in the area, Brockenhurst was chosen in 1915 by the War Office to become a hospital centre. Initially, Lady Hardinge’s Hospital (named after the wife of the Viceroy of India) for the Indian troops of the Lahore and Meerut Divisions was established south of the village. This was then replaced by No.1 New Zealand General Hospital in June 1916, after the Indian Divisions were replaced by ANZAC troops. The New Zealand Hospital remained at Brockenhurst until it closed early in 1919. The churchyard contains 106 graves of the First War, of which one hundred are in the New Zealand plot. In addition to the 93 New Zealand graves, there are also three Indian and three unidentified Belgian civilians (employed at the Sopley Forestry camp). On the East side of the New Zealand plot is a memorial incorporating a Cross.”
The snake man.
Harry ‘Brusher’ Mills was a hermit, a resident of the forest, he made his living as a snake catcher. It is said he caught around 30,000 snakes during his 18 years as a snake catcher.
He was a man of few needs who loved the simple life, in a mud hut apart from a spell in the workhouse after catching influenza.
He was a popular character in Brockenhurst, regularly enjoying a tipple at The Railway Inn which today is named The Snakecatcher in his honour.
We left home in heavy rain this morning and it looked like my walk into the New Forest may be a washout however the BBC weather forecast was correct and by 9.30 the sun was out and the Autumn colours were looking good.
Fallow Deer are the deer that most visitors to the New Forest see. Although not a native species, to the forest. The New Forest was William the Conqueror’s first hunting forest in England, and the hunting of fallow stags took place for over 900 years until it was outlawed in 1997.
I only saw one Stag but he was worth spotting and decided to sit down rather than move on!
I came across his strange-looking fungus called Devil’s fingers while in the New Forest this morning. It is also known as an octopus stinkhorn or octopus fungus. Its eye-catching red tentacles splay out like a starfish. It looks like it is from another world!
A different area of the New Forest today gave a glimpse of both some Fallow Deer and some Red Deer. All females and youngsters.
Fallow Deer.
Red Deer.
Also, a few Redwing were about. The redwing is a common winter visitor and is the UK’s smallest true thrush. Its creamy strip above the eye and orange-red flank patches make it distinctive. Rare in summer with under 20 pairs but in the winter the influx of some 8.6 million birds!
Continued Reflections from my World. 