Bolderwood, New Forest 14/1/2025 10:30

While the ponies are the New Forest's most recognisable symbol, the deer also play a significant role in its lore and landscape, so it's fitting that deer are an archetypal symbol of the forest and their image graces the local council's crest, my old school's badge and countless local businesses.

This is a fallow deer, the most numerous species. The stags and does roam the forest in separate herds, sometimes up to twenty or thirty strong. The does are rather cautious, enigmatic creatures with sharp senses and will spot your approach from far away, locking their eyes on you with an intense wariness. Approach too quickly and they vanish, melting into the nearest thicket of gorse or shrubs. Go straight to the spot you believe is their hiding place, and they'e vanished, magically melted into the vegetation.

The stags, however, are bolder and more confident. It may be their intimidating crown of antlers, velvet coated in the summer, clean in the winter, that gives them this sense of invincibility, maybe it's their nature, or perhaps they are just more used to human company than the does. Whatever the reason, they tend to stand their ground, fixing you with a firm stare, affording you the opportunity to move in for an impressive close-up shot.

They are free to roam, although they tend to keep to a relatively small area, grazing silently across the lawns and heaths or finding refuge in dense gorse thickets where well-worn tracks and flattened patches of bracken reveal their favourite resting spots. This is where you will often find them, more relaxed than when they are out in the open. However, like many herd animals, they leave one individual on sentry duty, beady eye on your every move, wary of the approaching “wolf” and in particular any hint of a pincer approach by two people at once.

Capturing an image that retains all the details requires a blend of simple camera settings and, more importantly, patience. Set the camera to aperture priority, dial in the widest aperture to force the fastest shutter speed for the light conditions, use a highish ISO (I start at 640 but reduce it if light allows) and, if the light is high-contrast (sunny), apply a touch of negative exposure compensation (about -0.7) to prevent overexposing the pale patches in their fur. 

If the scene is looking good as you approach, don’t worry about perfect framing initially, get your first shots in quickly before the deer takes off and you've lost it; get one in the bag before it flees! Then, if the deer holds its ground, work on the framing, zoom in, and compose your ideal shot, clicking away all the time.

Look at the background behind the deer's antlers. It's mid-January and there are flowers. Although gorse blankets the heaths and lawns with a blaze of yellow and perfume in spring and summer, it continues to flower throughout the year and, even in the depths of winter, still provides a vibrant, but more muted, splash of yellow. So, when you are wandering through the New Forest, look out for the subtle details, unexpected bursts of colour and the native flora and fauna, each following their own cycle through the seasons.