A Roe Buck and a Muntjac Encounters a Fox
Video: 3-9 May 2021
Text: 22 January 2025
This week I've included three clips of a Roe buck, the antlers of which appear similar, suggesting it's the same animal. There's also been an interesting encounter between a fox and Muntjac deer. There's a grazing family of Muntjac. We conclude with the third capture of the Roe buck.
0:00 - Tuesday 05:24
It's early morning and the camera is still in infra-red mode as the Roe buck we see, staring over the bridge to Ruston House is glowing. He soon takes off northwards alongside the dyke.
0:16 - Wednesday 05:32
It's now the following day and only a few minutes later but this time there's enough light for the camera to be in daylight mode. If you've been concentrating on the deer disappearing into the distance you may not immediately notice that what seems to be the same animal is now standing, facing the camera, beside the large pile of twigs and branches in the centre of the frame. But you'll soon spot it as it moves out of the frame.
0:21 - Thursday 00:19
Now it's shortly after midnight on Thursday and a Muntjac is in the centre of the frame facing a pair of eyes in the distance, glowing in the infra-red light of the camera. At first the deer moves towards the bridge, apparently about to cross onto Ruston House land, but it pauses to look again at the now approaching eyes. The eyes appear to vanish. That's because there's a momentary break in the recording as the camera has to wait for fresh movement to resume recording. Now we see the eyes to the left rapidly moving. The deer now turns and proceeds cautiously towards the eyes. However, the eyes continue to move out of frame. The deer appears to relax and briefly grooms itself before returning to the bridge, crossing it. There's little doubt the eyes belonged a fox. You might not expect. Should I be surprised by a fox appearing to be prepared to face down a fox?
1:01 - Friday 08:55
Thirty two hours later we see Muntjac deer again. This time it's a pair that cross the bridge from Ruston House and begin to browse. There's two clips stitched together here. In day time mode the camera will continue operating for up to a minute before ceasing. In this case it shut down as both animals briefly moved out of detection range only to return moments later. Again they move out of view. As the clip concludes you can see how a branch is being shaken wildly by the deer browsing it.
2:29 - Sunday 03:27
Now it's the very early on Sunday morning and if there was doubt the earlier clip being a fox, this one seems likely to expel that.
2:48 - Sunday 04:43
We conclude this week's collection of clips with another brief transit by the Roe buck.
