A weekend on the road

The weekend have been spent in the southern parts of Sweden, but also in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark.

The aim was two folded and the first was to capture pictures of Red Deer in rut. I had this Red Deer mission last year, but unfortunately the autumn just washed away with heavy downpours and when they stopped the rut was already over. The Kingfisher was the second goal on the agenda. I have tried to capture this pearl a couple of times this year to no avail, but this weekend might be a turning point.

This meant I had high hopes for the weekend as both places we would travel to could yield good results.

Jægersborg Dyrehave was the first area to be explored. This is a forest park in the north of Copenhagen covering around 11 square kilometers. The park is famous for its old oak trees and the herds of Deer and that was the main reasons going there.

The morning was cold giving us good hope for mist, which is an element you want when you take pictures of Red Deer in rut.

We parked the car outside the park around 6:00 am. We kitted up and then we let Erland Leide lead the way. It didn´t take long before we saw the first Fallow Deer‘s. They are beautiful, but they weren´t the main attraction for the day. We soon started to hear bellowing Red Deer’s and headed into that direction. We hadn´t walked for very long before we discovered the big male with his group of hinds and kids.

Now the dance started as we tried to get closer to the group and at the same time trying to anticipate their next movement. They clearly had a comfort zone that you had to respect otherwise they took off. We worked with the same group of animals during the morning.

I think I left with a decent material for a first try. Maybe a little recon before next trip could yield a better result as the background is cluttered in many of the pictures.

Red Deer's in the mist weekend — Red Deer’s in the mist 130913

I find this picture, one of the first of the day, to be one of the better. You clearly see the bellowing male and the hind eating from the tree. If you look closely you´ll also recognize three more hinds grazing.

What makes this picture in my eyes is the landscape together with the light from the early hours. The Red Deer’s are more silhouettes, but that was exactly what I wanted. It was an extra bonus to both get the bellowing male while the hind were eating from the leaves.

What about the Kingfisher and the second part of the trip?

Well it was a small disaster even if we got to see the pearl in two different areas. We discovered four cars in the parking space when we arrived at Kingfisher heaven. That meant it would be crowded. Still we gave it a try before heading home. It didn´t produce any good Kingfisher images even if you find one in the gallery. I think I will head back during a day with bad light as that probably mean fewer people there.

I like to thank Frode Wendelbo for planning this little weekend trip, Kenny Isaksson for the tagging along and Erland Leide for his hospitality and guiding in Copenhagen.