When the days get shorter and the temperatures sink, and when autumn paints the bracken on the hills brown, the red deer rut starts. The rut is a period when the biggest and strongest male (stag) rounds up a group of females (hinds) for mating. Of course every other male deer wants to do the same, but there’s only so many females to go around. In order to maintain control over a group of females the stag must constantly drive away rivals. The stag announces his superiority over other males by constantly bellowing out an echoing roar and in the meanwhile contenders need to be chased off which causes occasional fights.
On an island like Jura, with almost 7,000 deer, the rutting deer can’t be missed, both by vision and sound. On Jura you can see almost anywhere small groups of deer which usually consist of a stag and a couple of hinds. The mating season for the red deer starts late September and ends at the end of October which makes this one of the best periods to visit the island. Friends of mine were on Jura last week and they sent me a lot of beautiful images of the landscape and the impressive stags and hinds which you can find below.
View from Three arches bridge
13 Pointer stag and hinds
Tarbert
Beinn Shiantaidh
Hind and Calf
Hind Calf and Stag
Roaring Stag
Lagg
Loch an t-Siob
Images courtesy Teresa Morris of Islay Wildscapes
Great Deer photographs well done
Thanks Gavin, the pictures were taken by Teresa Morris from Islay Wildscapes. She is a very good photographer and knows exactly where to go to get the best shots. It’s like being on Jura when I look at them!
Nice blog and lovely pictures – well done!
The shot labelled ‘Ardlussa’ is actually Tarbert.
Cheers
Dave
Thanks Dave, much appreciated. I will pass it on to Teresa.
And I will change the name too, thanks
[...] article was posted on Oct 13 2009 When Teresa Morris of Islay Wildscapes sent me the images of the Red Deer Rut on Jura she told me there were some special images of a Cromie Stag. I have done some research on the [...]