The Herd Scene

As far as it's possible to generalise, in summer Blacka's red deer can be seen as being in three distinct groups. It's always questionable just how far you can call the wild deer here a herd. The word herd suggests they are a self contained unit staying together most of the time much as you might see a park herd in Chatsworth or similar. If that's your experience of seeing deer, mainly in a contained setting, then the behaviour of the wild animals that we have here may be surprising. From observation over ten years on and around the woods and moors around Blacka the free wild deer in this landscape behave quite differently. The first thing to say is that it's quite common at all times of year to see one solitary animal, stag or hind, with no others within half a mile or more.

 Rut behaviour in October is fairly well understood, a single stag in possession of numerous hinds, with lone outsider stags making occasional challenges with varying degrees of seriousness. But for the rest of the year the situation is more fluid. In winter and spring we may see individuals or groups of any size, 2 to 15 often single sex but at times mixed. If they are in numbers it's more likely to be just stags or a mixed group of hinds and a few immature of either sex. An exception I've noticed for several years is that a short period in November after the rut, once most hinds have dispersed, a dominant stag has stayed around  with one hind and its calf  in a small 'family group'.

The summer months are different again. Stags can be seen lone or in small groups, while hinds are alone or with a new calf. Later in the summer several hinds with calves may be seen together. That leaves the immature of both sexes, one or two years old occasionally seen feeling their way beyond the influence of older animals. Recently younger animals have been spotted in various places from Dore village or woods in Totley to the higher slopes of Blacka, each time with erratic or timid behaviour.