Unusual Garden Events

[PeterE]

Yesterday afternoon we actually witnessed the birth of two new roe deer in a corner of our garden. Well, not the actual birth moment, but everything right after.
 
Well, it is not the first thing you expect when looking out the kitchen window. It just seemed one of those days you happen to see a roe deer munching on your plants.
 

Fig 1: A Roe Deer by the Hammock
 
In the picture above we see what I saw at first, a roe deer just by the hammock, but wait, what is showing just above the blue rope on the seat?
 
Fig 2: A Roe Kid
 
Yes it is, a new born roe kid! Trying to understand the funny character behind the shiny pane. Mother roe is munching away on a bush. Only one kid? There are usually more.
 
Fig 3: Kid Number Two
 
Well, well, see whatīs coming in from the right, kid number two! They are not big as new borns. Now that I know they are there it requires some follow-up doesnīt it?
 
Fig 4: Mother Roe
 
Mother Roe is now hungry of course and goes around chewing at almost anything green and at suitable height, which means everything from ground up to a meter or so. She saw me through the window.
 
Fig 5: The New Family
 
I noticed that the mother separate the kids somewhat and attends to them one at the time. Here it is walking exercise time. What, crawling before walking, naaah, but it is a bit un-stable.
 
Fig 6: Nothing is Wasted
 
In nature nothing is wasted if possible to avoid. Here we see the mother eating the after birth, that is the placenta and the membranes. They are far too nutricious to leave and now is the time the mother need all extra nourishment she can find. Talk about chewy food ...
 
Fig 7: One Little Kid Discovering
 
While mummy eats the small ones discover the surroundings.  Wobbly steps and all.
 
Fig 8: Just the Last Bit, Nothing must be Left
 
Here we have the whole new family, mother and two kids. I cannot see if they are male or female, only that one is smaller than the other. Probably due to birth order. Anyway, they are all hungry now.
 
Fig 9: All plants are tasty, not only the wild ones.
 
Got a nice picture at about 2 meters from the window. She saw that I was not a danger so sha completely ignored both me and our cat beside me. Looks to be a yearling.
 
Fig 10: Resting
 
Time to relax after an intensive day. Mother and kids in a ray of light.
 
Fig 11: The day after the night before
 
Next day I heard a thin squeeking noice and saw mother roe looking for her kids. They had strayed in to a flower bed just under one of the kitchen windows. I got this picture in the morning light.
 
It is not every day one can witness something like this, and above all, not in your own garden.
 
 
/Peter

Edit: Fixed tags on #6 & 10. Don

[andyf]

Aaahh, what a great thing to see!

Despite that, I can't help thinking of venison and Bambi-burgers....

Andy

[PeterE]

spot on andy 

Neither my wife nor I really do like roe in the garden, but this is kind of an exception. I could well see some nice bits on a plate instead myself. My wife simply hates them because they wreck our flower beds and spread ticks all over the place (together with TBE nowadays).

Had to look up venison and now I have another word for the same animal. Thank you andy. Btw where is the difference between them US/UK or other?

/Peter
(who thought a more elaborate answer would be better.)

[dsquire]

Peter

Thank you for the lovely pictures of the deer. It is not often that one gets to see first hand nature at work replenishing herself. I agree that they can be a pest at times but sometimes you just have to smile and have a warm spot in your heart for them.

They really mean no harm and are just trying to keep living from day to day as we keep changing the rules on them. We have the same problems in Canada with many of our wild critters as we keep taking their habitat over. 

Cheers 

Don

[andyf]

Venison is the English for meat from deer, Peter, rather than the animal itself.  Like beef comes from cows.

I live in the suburbs of Manchester, so I don't see many deer. There are a lot of them out in the countryside, though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deer_of_Great_Britain
Many of them are muntjaks (an imported species), which can be a nuisance. I don't know what derr species there are in the US.

We get a lot of escaped imports in the UK. Thirty years ago, there were 50 or 60 Australian wallabies living in the hills about 30 miles/50km away, but they have slowly died out.

Andy

 

[vtsteam]

Whitetail deer here in the east.

A couple years ago I went into the house to plug in an extension cord, before returning to the storage shed out back. Just as I was headed out the door, my wife said, "A bear!"

She was looking out the kitchen window. It was just rounding the back corner of the house in broad daylight. I'd have met him (or her) face to face if I'd been just a little quicker with the cord as we both rounded the same corner. That would have been exciting. 

Here's what to do in that case:

btw. those are very cute little deer. Great to have taken photos of that.

[PeterE]

@Don; Thanks for fixing the tags, dislocated my shoulder the other day so I am a bit clumsy when typing right now, and I completely agree about the habitational situation.

@Andy; Thanks for the explanation on venison. Fortunately we donīt have much import wildlife spreading which I guess is depending on our cold winters. So, normally it is just "ordinary" wildlife spreading as they lack their natural predators keeping them at a suitable level.

I live 15 minutes by commuter train south of Gothenburg and that takes me into the border of the countryside. Here we have in addition to far too many roe also moose, boar, badgers of course, fox, the odd wolf, but fortunately no bears - yet.

@vtsteam, One of those times you are very satisfied not meeting a bear without a suitable cage in between. A very exiting moment I guess.


I must apologize a bit for the blurriness of the photos. They were taken from inside the kitchen through triple-pane glazing - yes very energy efficient - but I think it worked out.

Thank you all for nice comments.

BR

/Peter