Red Deer - Stag

Red Deer - Stag

Red Deer - Stag

Seen on the hills along the Huisinis Rd - Isle of Harris Jan 2011. It is said that if there were wolves in Scotland then the number of red deer would be reduced dramatically as they would be a key target.

The stag looked just stunning outlined against the skyline - Isle of Harris - near Loch Seaforth

During - the rutting season. A stag will go to a peaty bog or muddy pool to wallow, covering its body with mud which helps to spread its strong rutting scent all over the body.

Red Deer - Stag

Red Deer - Stag

Red Deer - Stag

Enjoying the sun this lovely red deer stag January 2011. Red deer evolved primarily as a woodland species but have become adapted to live in open moorland and hills.

This stag was quite close to us really -I just wound the car window down to take this picture. Many females only have enough energy reserves to breed successfully in alternate years rather than every year!

This stag - slowly on the move - Isle of Harris - Western Isles wildlife. The red deer is Britain's largest land mammal Stags live to around ten years whilst the hinds (females live to 12 years)

Red Deer Stag - Isle of Harris

Red Deer

Red Deer - Feeding

Just staring at us quietly the majestic creature - the red deer stag - Isle of Harris Wildlife

This red deer was too interested in eating to take note of us, although if we had got out of the car, I suspect he would have moved smartly away.

These two red deer, were defintely watching us as we snapped away with the camera

Red Deer

Young Deer Hinds

Red Deer Hind

This red stag, again caught our attention as he looked so proud, Huisinis Road, Isle of Harris, March 2012

Two red deer hinds watching us as we drove slowly past them - Harris - March 2012

A magnificent stag, looks down at us with caution - Isle of Harris - March 2012

Very proud looking this red stag watched our car very closely, he appears to be ready to shed an antler.. Summer and winter territories are different. In winter the herds move to lower ground where there is more shelter, and in summer they keep to the higher slopes. The scientific name for a red deer iscervus elaphus.

A lovely backdrop of snow on the Barvas moorland for this magnificent animal the red deer stag.Red deer have actually different coloration, varying from grey or light coloration in winters to reddish and dark coat in the summers

This stag posed on the hills opposite Seaforth Loch - Tarbert - to Stornoway Jan 2010.Since male deer have stronger and thicker neck muscles, as compared to the females, they appear to have neck manes.

This lovely red deer was so close to the road - a mile or two up the leurbost to Bernera Road - May 2013

Tarbert to Stornoway road - Western Isles - Hebridean wildlife - Jan 2010

A majestic silhouette - a stag seen on the hilltops opposite the Seaforth Loch - Isle of Harris - Jan 2010

Red Deer seen near Mangersta - Isle of Lewis - Aug 2010

Deer seen near Mangersta - Isle of Lewis - Aug 2010

We saw this red dear near the roadside just past Leurbost on the Bernara Rd

Red Deer - Stag

This stag just looked on as we gently rolled down thecar window to take its photo - Huisinis Road March 2012

Magical - this stag with its head to the ground munching away

This stag was one of a group grazing on the hillside near Amhuinnsuidhe. Rutting stags roar at each other - a deep bellowing sound.

These deer were running at high speed along the Uig Hills - Aug 2011

There were six stags all chasing up along the Uig Hills - Aug 2011

A proud stag - on the hilltops on the Huisinis Rd - Harris. Deer are different from other ruminants in that the males have a set of antlers which are re grown every summer, rather than permanent horns on the head.

Red Deer

Red Deer Hind

Red Deer Hind

.Red deer migrated into Britain from Europe 11000 years ago. Red deer are herbivores and graze a wide variety of plants from grasses and heather to shrubs and trees

Red deer hind -stopped briefly to stare at us - near Loch Seaforth. During the autumn, all Red Deer subspecies grow a thicker coat of hair which helps to insulate them during the winter.

Red deer hind - one of about eight deer - that ran off into the trees .The young Red deer or fawn are born during autumn and have a white spotted coat on birth, which changes to a dark brown, fluffy one after the summer season

Red Deer - Near Leurbost

Red Deer

Red Deer - Feeding

Just staring at us quietly the majestic creature - the red deer.

The stag was getting nervous - Isle of Harris - January 2011. Female deer are often attracted to the stag with the loudest roar. Red deer are the undisputed Monarch of the Glen - the great Scottish Icon.

.The Red deer - Stags and hinds live in separate herds for most of the year. Deer in woodland live in small groups but highland deer usually live in larger herds, moving up the hillsides by day to feed and shelter in the deeper heather or woods at night

This lovely red deer was so close to the road - a mile or two up the leurbost to Bernera Road - May 2013

Red Deer - Cervus Elaphus

It is the Red Deer - the largest of Scotland's two native deer that are often to be seen throughout the Western Isles. In the winter especially they come down from the higher ground to nearer the towns in search of food, .

The Red Deer's Antlers - Herds - Rut

The red deer's antlers are multi branched. These antlers are shed and grow again each year in the summer - they are at their best just before the annual "rut". Stags and hinds live in separate herds most of the year but come together in the autumn in the breeding season, or rut. Highly branched. The number of branches increases with age. Up to 16 points in native animals

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Stags live in small wandering groups, except during the rut when they become solitary and fight other stags for the control of a hind (female deers are called hinds) herd. A stag may mate with up to twenty hinds in a given year. Calves are born in June.

The Antlers
The young stag's first antlers are probably just small spikes and at this stage he is known as a 'knobber'. Stags over two years old begin to grow branching antlers and more points or 'tines' are added each time a new set of antlers is grown, until there are twelve points.

Royal - Antlers with 12 spikes
Once the antlers have twelve spikes - the head of Antlers is then called 'a royal. Antlers are made of solid bone and as soon as they are shed, usually in March or April, a skin - called 'velvet', grows over the bony stump. The velvet is supplied with blood vessels and nerves and bone is laid down within it. When the antlers have reached full size the blood supply to the velvet is cut off. The velvet begins to die and the stag rubs it off against branches and young trees. The antlers are then still of great use to the deer who then eat it - and it provides them with rich minerals which help to make them healthy..

The size of the antlers is related to the quality of the diet of the stag. Those living in forests have larger antlers than those grazing on moorland. If some minerals or vitamins are lacking then the antlers may be stunted. Stags in the Highlands chew their old antlers when they drop off to replace the minerals needed to grow a new set, which are missing from the peaty soil of their habitat.

The Rut
The breeding season, or rut is from the end of September to November. Stags return to hind's home ranges and compete for access to hinds by taking part in elaborate displays of dominance. The stags roar and walk parallel and fight with great vigour and ferocity. Two rival stags sometimes walk slowly beside each other, a little apart, assessing each other's strength. The weakest may walk away but if they seem to be evenly matched then they may begin to fight.

The most successful stags may end up with up to forty hinds in their harems. The stags spend most of their time endlessly patrolling a circle of ground around the hinds, chasing away any challengers, trying to prevent the hinds from straying and mating with each one as she becomes receptive. They hardly have any time to eat, and by the end of the rut, the stags are thin and exhausted.

Serious injury and death can result but fighting only occurs between stags of similar size that can not assess dominance by any of the other means. The dominant stags prize is the exclusive mating with the hind.

Breeding.
Woodland red deer hinds (females) can breed at 16 months old. Smaller hill deer may not reach sexual maturity until they are 2 - 3 years old.

Only stags over 5 years old tend to achieve mating despite being sexually mature much earlier (before their 2nd birthday in productive woodland populations). In woodland populations hinds over a year old give birth to a single calf after an 8 month gestation, between mid-May to mid-July each year. Puberty may be delayed until 3 years old in hill hinds, which may give birth only once every 2 or 3 years.

A hind about to give birth leaves her herd and finds a secluded spot to 'drop her calf'

Watch the hinds and calves in Early Summer
Early summer is the best time to watch hinds and calves, as within the herd they are highly sociable

Deer - Colour
Red deer are red-coloured in summer but can change to greyish brown in winter.

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Food - Grasses and Heathers
Red deer like to forage on a range of grasses, sedges, heathers and woody species - which is why they frequent whatever woodlands are available. The red deer are common throughout much of Scotland and The Western Isles - however not so in The Northern Isles

Two mammals native to The Western Isles
The red deer and the otter are the only two mammals that are actually native to The Western Isles, The red deer can live up to 18 years. Red deer came to Britain from Europe over 11000 years ago. The deer were used as a food source - and the bones and antlers were used as tools. When the forest areas starting to decline - the deer then became natives to the Scottish highlands and islands with much smaller populations being elsewhere in the small forested areas of the Uk that were left.

Sounds of The Deer
You can hear if you are lucky the stags roaring and grunting during the rut. Hinds bark when alarmed and moo when searching for their young. The calves give out high squeals when alarmed and also bleat to their mothers..

Deer Forest

In medieval times, red deer were hunted in Scotland. Large numbers of deer were driven across the hills and through woods into traps called ‘teinchels’, where hunters lay in wait. The link between deer and trees at that time led to the term ‘deer forest’ - the term which is still applied to some upland areas that are now treeless.
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