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For La Vanguardia’s Readers’ Photos I have portrayed the male fallow deer with its spectacular antlers guarding the territory, the female passing by stealthily and, of course, also the small ones.
We can see, therefore, a complete family of these beautiful forest elves. The male sheds its antlers annually, falling off between April and May to grow again between June and July.
They prefer deciduous forests, where they feed on the leaves of trees, shrubs and grass. I have captured these images in Albanyà (Alt Empordà).
In autumn, furthermore, fallow deer compete among themselves to earn the right to mate with females in heat. There are fights between them and chases in the middle of the forest.
Demonstrations of power by males include bellowing and ritual fights, in which they use their antlers. The rutting begins at the beginning of autumn, usually at the end of September and beginning of October.
