A Handsome Buck

We went to Petworth House National Trust today, with the main aim of seeing the  herd of fallow deer.  However, when we arrived and I asked where we were likely to see them, the lady said that they'd been moved due to the Boxing Day hunt, and she wasn't sure if they were back yet.  

Anyway, we set off in search of them, walked up to a high point  to see if we could see any, and Alan saw something in the distance.  I used my zoom lens to have a look, and sure enough there were loads of them,  so we walked down the hill and I started to approach them slowly.  I didn't notice that quite a few were sat on the ground, as they were hidden by the grass and as I approached they got up and stood looking at me.  I had my camera on the monopod, so got quite a few decent shots before they turned tail and wandered back to the rest of the herd.  

Unfortunately, there were quite a few people with children in the park who were very loud, and this spooked the deer so they ran further away from us, but I followed in a slightly different direction and then crossed in front of them.  This buck was eating and didn't seem to notice me approaching, so I got close enough that when he saw me, I managed to get a few shots of him looking straight at me.  

We then walked back up to the house where there was a Georgian Christmas event and some of the rooms were decorated for Christmas, but most of the house was closed off - it was nice to see though.

We're having a relaxing night at home now and I've got steak and sweet potato wedges for dinner, which is already cooking, so I'd better go and check on it.

Hope you're having a good weekend!