Quantock Hills Blog
A summer’s evening
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Posted by Andy Harris on 19 July 2010
On a glorious summer evening it is well worth taking a walk on the common and keeping an eye out for the red deer looking resplendent in their summer coats.
One evening when working with volunteers doing a Nightjar Survey we saw several groups of hinds and their calves as well as a group of twelve stags with their antlers in velvet. The velvet is in fact skin covering the new growing antler which replaces the stag's previous set that were cast earlier in the year.
In a few weeks' time, when the antlers have finished growing, the velvet starts to irritate the stag and they will rub it off against trees and vegetation. This helps to harden up the antler bone and strengthen the neck muscles in preparation for the rut. As the velvet is rubbed off and hangs in strips the stags are often referred to as being in tatters.
This lovely photo clearly showing the velvet covered antlers was taken by Dennis Harker, Quantock Volunteer.
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