Mention must now be made of an extraordinary curiosity of the Jura Forests, called “the cromie stag,” Gaelic for “crooked.” In Jura only do
these stags exist; how they got there or whence they came no one knows, but there they have been from time immemorial, and confident I feel either that they are a distinct race, or that some stag from foreign lands once managed to get to Jura in days gone by and left his mark behind him. Even in Jura these “cromies” are very scarce, living only in certain parts of the island, where perhaps three or four “cromies” may be seen to one hundred others, and the whole forest may not contain a score of them. In twelve years Mr. Evans has shot but eleven, and for several seasons past none at all, although by this it must not be inferred that absence from the larder means absence from the hill, for, thanks to Mr. Evans’ care, there are still ” cromies ” in Jura.

The horns of the “cromie” slope backwards and are set on the head at a totally different angle to those of the ordinary stag ; likewise the beam is seldom round like the usual horn, but tends to varying degrees of flatness, and in a cast horn, kindly sent me by Mr. Evans, that part above the coronet is nearly quite flat. I consider these “cromie” heads so curious, so interesting, and so difficult to convey any idea of by words, that I have deemed the head of the ” crooked one ” well worthy of illustration, and the drawing shows most accurately the remarkable features of the best ” cromie ” head ever got in Jura, and though at first sight it may appear ugly as compared with that of the usual monarch of the glen, I am sure all deer fanciers will eventually agree with me in regarding the head as a wild and beautiful one, while the sight of it cannot fail to arouse speculation as to its origin.

The online publication contained no images but the magnificent images of Teresa in this post show exactly what is referred to in the quote above. The complete article is available from this link

I’d like to state that the images shown in this post may not be of a 100% pure Cromie Stag but they show the features of a typical Jura stag. I’d like to invite the readers of this post to send in any images of a true Jura Cromie stag, they will be added to this post. Please use the email address in the contact page. Thanks very much for your help.

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

The bird, which may have been a male or a female, was ringed on Mull in 1987 by RSPB Scotland’s Roger Broad, when it was still a tiny chick and too young to be sexed. Its body was discovered on North Jura earlier this year by a member of the public, who then reported the find to Roger. The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) have since confirmed that this is the oldest known ringed golden eagle in the UK. Dave Sexton, RSPB Scotland Mull Officer, said: ‘It’s amazing to think how long eagles can survive if left to get on with things in the wild. Their longevity is balanced by the fact that they only have one or two chicks each year, and don’t start breeding until they’re five years old. That’s why the population of any eagle can suffer so dramatically when the adult birds are taken out by poisoning or other unnatural means. But it’s great to think that this bird lived out its days in relative peace, and still almost in sight of the nest it hatched out of on Mull all those years ago’.