A Red deer day.
A red deer stag looking majestic in the glen at Glencoe.
A heavy mist descended as we approached the Bridge of orchy, it was just getting light enough to take pictures even though official sunrise time was passed it had still to appear over the mountains and burn off the mist, driving slower than normal my wife Lisa shouts “STAG”!!! I slow down and ask where ? “BACK THERE ON THE RIGHT”, with no lay-by for another mile I decide to turn the car round on a stretch of road that is barely wide enough to do so, after a 6 point turn I drive back and start looking for a spot to park, “THERE’S TWO OF THEM” Lisa shouts, I see a spit of tarmac like a little road end and park the car, get my boots on and camera and run towards the stags I can just barely see through the ever thickening mist, I climb up a banking of heather and moss that’s frozen as its -4 degrees and I’m in my normal casual clothes but I want a pic of the stags in that mist, I get to the top of the banking and slowly remove the high grasses in front of me to get a better point to shoot from, they have already seen me and probably heard me breaking the frozen ground, one stag bolts into the distance, quickly disappearing, the other looks dead at me, lowering its head to munch on the ground then looking back up, I get a few shots taken then I stand up and wipe the frost off of my jumper and jeans, I look up and the stag is still there, I take one more pic (see below) we looked at each other for about a minute before it runs off in the same direction as the other did, disappearing into the mist, it was the start of what would become a great day of red deer photography.
Red deer stag on the moor past Bridge of Orchy.
After that amazing start to the day we headed to Glencoe, climbing the big left hand bend up hill to the Loch Tulla viewpoint, a bit further on we spotted some deer up on the moor of the Black Mount estate, we could see six doe’s but no stags, we pulled into a lay-by and I started off on foot across the frozen peat bog to get a closer look with the binoculars, there were six doe’s and two stags but they were heading away from my position, I took some pics but nothing worth posting, I wanted to move further up the moor, but unfamiliar with the land ahead that had already tried to claim me into its peaty ground after I broke through the frozen water logged surface, I decided to return to the car, we drove onwards to Glen Etive, it was still early in the morning and would be pretty quiet, we drove through the glen, at about eight miles in I spotted a doe in the distance between two cottages, stopping the car and lowering the window to get a photo of it Lisa says turn your head back to your right, I did and my jaw nearly dropped, in a flat part of ground there must have been 20 red deer stags all up chewing grass or laying down, its amazing what you miss when your focussing on the road, I jumped out and got the tripod set up and started shooting.
Some of the large group of red deer stags that were in a flat bit of ground not far from the road.
A few of them were sleeping.
Had to be my favourite stag of the bunch, it was trying to open its eyes to see if we were still there while trying to get a comfortable sleep to.
Such an amazing site to see so many wild red deer stags together in one spot after spotting them all over the place on the drive there to.
After taking several photos of this large group of stags we drive on further down the road and meet a car that’s parked up in a passing place and four folk out with cameras leaning against a fence, as we slow down we see what there all looking at, its another three stags but there a good bit from the road, I drive to the next bit I can park in and walk back up the road but instead of standing on the road with the other guys, I leave the road before I’m in sight of them and walk up and over a bit of high banking and through long grass, brambles and some trees, I’m about to drop into a dip in the ground when I see a set of antlers just ahead, I hunker down against a tree and wait for the stag to get closer, a few seconds pass and I’m rewarded with a stunning beast looking through the trees at me, I get a few photos before it walks off and crosses the road and down into the other side near the river, then looks back at me.
A handsome stag catches me taking its pic through a gap in a tree.
The run away stag looking back before it rests and grazes on the grass and shoots around it.
A younger stag, one of the three in the smaller patch of clear ground was happily posing for photos while its other two friends had decided to take off, it was a perfect ending to the mornings photography in the glen, what started off as very misty turned out to be a lovely cold but clear day, I wouldn’t have minded some rain as it would have made for a more atmospheric set of photos but to be privileged to get so many stags in just a few hours was so amazing, once we left the glen which was a wrench to do so as its so beautiful there and has loads more wildlife and superb landscape and nature photography opportunities, we headed to the Kingshouse hotel which is just a short drive on the way home from the glen, there we fed the young deer that frequent the carpark then had a meal and drinks in the restaurant before heading home, if you get the chance to visit the Kingshouse hotel please do so as the hospitality there is great and the food is first class, its makes a visit to Glencoe well worth it.