The deer rut

It's pretty much over now, and the sounds of antlers clashing and the calls of the males (bucks) can no longer be heard across the park as the bucks in our herd of fallow deer try to assert their dominance over each other. It’s an amazing sight, and here are some of the great pictures we’ve been sent…

 Tim Cook

 

 Dave Vadis via Twitter

                                           Film and photos from Tim Holyoake via Facebook

During the rut the most dominant buck will take up position of the centre of the rut surrounded by females (does), he’ll then work to keep his position and group of does as other bucks challenge him. Not all the bucks will challenge, some take up positions further out and simply wait to see if does move toward them, and other bucks will break out into smaller groups.

It can look brutal, but they’re aiming to show their strength rather than cause injury. You might also see them walking in parallel to size each other up before rutting and often one will decide to back down if the other looks a lot bigger!

If you’re going to watch the deer, make sure to give them plenty of space and please keep dogs on leads.

Red, white and… green!

Not only are the visitor receptions and courtyard looking lovely with their jubilee bunting, the park is also sporting some decoration in the form of a giant ‘60’ mowed into the side of Lawn Hill, overlooking the house and the lake.

Our talented garden team created the shapes using two pegs, some string and a method that’s often known as the gardeners’ ellipse to get the shapes right…

Place two pegs vertically in the centre of where you want the ‘0’ then attach a loose circle of string stretching around both pegs.  Then use chalk to pull the sting taught so it forms a triangle.

Finally keeping the string taught move your chalk around both pegs and you should have an ellipse (oval).

For the ‘6’ Gary our head gardener used a similar method for the ellipse at the bottom then employed the good old technique of standing back a shouting instructions to the rest of the team positioning the pegs for the top half. We’ve all been out to have a look at their handiwork before the reign arrives (sorry) and can confirm it looks fit for a Queen!

Samuel says: ‘I’ve already seen lots of people and dogs having their photo taken by it during my daily walkies in the park, so make sure you come and see it over the weekend.’