Richmond Park

 Alas dear reader, I am sorry. This is another post about Richmond Park. It is just such a bloody brilliant place to spend one's time. 

Today I was there for a follow up visit for Holly Lodge. After my meeting, I wandered around again. There was another section of the park I wanted to explore. This time I came across a BUNCH  of deer. 

There are two species of deer that live in the park: fallow deer and red deer. Today I saw both! I was walking along a path and across on the other side there was a small group of about six to eight fallow deer. I didn't stop to take photo as I was on a task.

A little later in my walk I stopped at a kiosk to buy a sandwich and a drink. I sat down on a nearby bench to enjoy my lunch and I looked up and low and behold, there was another group of fallow deer munching away on something in the bracken.

As I watched them, a small family of red deer walked up. They crossed the roadway and joined the group of fallow deer. They all seemed to get on quite well with one another. 

Here you can see the group of fallow deer down front 
and a red deer in the background

Fallow deer are smaller than red deer. They are mostly white with a red back that is dappled with white spots similar to a fawn in Canada except the dapples don't go away with age. The red deer are larger and are, well, red. 

The park has a few areas that are set aside for the deer only. They are fenced off and people are not allowed to walk around in these areas. The fences are just low picket fences so the deer can easily get in and out. So could people too really, but if you get caught in there by parks staff, it would mean a hefty fine. Bikes are even restricted to only a handful of paths so as not to disturb the wildlife. This is nice for pedestrians because on most paths you don't have to worry about being hit from behind by a mountain biker going 60 km/hr. 

In the video you can see the crazy little tails of the fallow deer. I presume they are shooing away some kind of flies from their bottoms.