We set off at 05:30 to get to Richmond Park in London, before sunrise, the sky was clear, there was a light mist laying across the park and we could hear the deer bellowing in the trees. I was armed with my biggest lens and a grin to match as we set off into the darkness to shoot some deer.

The morning mist gave a lovely atmosphere to the park but I found myself constantly wiping the condensation of the front of my lens, so I was very pleased that I had remembered my lens cloth. As we walked around the park, we found deer everywhere. I had read on the internet that sometimes they were a little difficult to find but we had no problem – beginners luck I guess.

Being used to the much smaller fallow and sika deer at Knole, the red and fallow deer of Richmond Park seemed much more imposing and we made sure that we kept a safe distance. It was made clear by the scars that could be seen on the faces and necks of many of the males that the rut was a serious business, and I didn’t want to become collateral damage!

Richmond Park deer
Richmond Park deer
Richmond Park deer
Richmond Park deer
Richmond Park deer
Richmond Park deer
Richmond Park deer
Richmond Park deer
Richmond Park deer
the sun comes up over Richmond Park

don’t forget, you can click an image to view these full screen…

We had a great day at the park and the rutt was amazing to experience, even though we didn’t witness any large stags really going for it. I will definitely go again another year as it was well worth getting up early for and the drive wasn’t even too bad at that time of day.