2021 AUTUMN VISIT TO STUDLEY ROGER DEER PARK RIPON NORTH YORKSHIRE

2021 October visit to the deer park at Studley Roger Ripon North Yorkshire

Good day readers

Most weekday mornings we start the day by driving the 3 miles to the deer park at Studley Roger. The deer park is close on 500 acres of open ground with clumps of trees and part of the National Trust’s Fountains Abbey and Studley Roger attraction. There is a road from Studley Roger into the deer park where there is a pay and display carpark (free to members). Please park in the carpark and not on the tarmac roads. There are a number of mown grass paths in and around the park. A popular circular walk is down the valley of seven bridges, through the adjacent woodland on a farmer’s track round past the farm and back up the drive to the carpark. On this walk down the valley it is possible to see dippers, herons and other interesting birds.

The deer park is home to some 500 deer, Red deer, Fallow deer and Sika deer. Whilst it is said to be in spring that a young man’s fancy turns to romance, it is in autumn when sweet chestnuts, acorns and beechnuts are falling from the many trees in the park, the rut begins. It is thought that some enzyme in the treenuts triggers the romantic nature of the deer. The red deer stags gorge themselves on the nuts, their coats change, and they begin to roar. Each stag will try to lay claim to an area of grazing with grass and trees and roar out his challenge to other stags. The hinds (females) begin to separate into smaller groups and it is the aim of every stag to collect a harem of hinds for breeding. To make himself more attractive the stag will urinate in a shallow scrape and then roll in the mud. Additionally he will tangle his antlers in low branches to strengthen his neck muscles ready to fight and defend his harem. Also at this time there is a steady flow of photographers with super long lenses, who like to sneak up on the stags to get a close-up picture. The stags are aggressive to any invasion of their territory and there are several incidents between stags and photographers every season. I was not able to get a good photo of a Red deer stag roaring, however I did photograph a Sika stag.

I have included two photos of the deer in the park, one is of a group of Red deer hinds, the other of a single Sika stag.

My book Port St James: Cliff Farm was published by Austin Macauley on 31^st August 2021and is available on line, from most bookshops and as an ebook. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing the novel. If so please post a review on https://austinmacauley.com/book/port-st-james

Thank you and all the best Philippa

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