The red deer rut, from the forest edge

For a few weeks each autumn the red deer stags roar, and on a still evening you can hear it across a whole valley. It is the loudest thing these forests do all year, and it is the rare wildlife evening where the odds are on your side — because hearing counts.

Heard, not necessarily seen

Stags roar from cover, often several at once, answering each other. Some evenings one walks out onto open pasture in the last light and some evenings none does. We watch the forest edge from a distance with scopes; we do not go in after them, which would end the evening for everyone including the deer.

The season is short

Roughly mid-September to mid-October, and it does not consult the calendar. We run it while it lasts and we stop when the roaring stops, rather than selling an evening in November when the woods have gone quiet.

Cold

Standing still after sunset in October. Warmer clothes than you think, again.