My Best Wild Roe Deer Photos

I’ve posted a couple of these shots previously, but I’ve recently had time to go through and edit some of the other photos taken during the same burst.

Here I tracked a wild roe deer with my Nikon Z8 and 400mm F4.5, after it spotted me and bolted. Conditions were great, with a clear view and the sun low in the evening sky, allowing for some lovely colours and interesting lighting.

I think these might be the best roe deer photos I’ve taken. Portrait shots are all well and good, but I think the best wildlife photography shows more than just a nice closeup of the animal - them eating, hunting, fighting, flying, etc. As such, I’m really pleased to capture this deer ‘in flight’.

Wildlife With the Nikon 400mm F4.5 for Z Mount

Continuing on from my last few posts, here are some more edits from the backlog of photos I’ve recently got round to looking at, on account of having some time while I recover from surgery.

All are taken with Nikon’s Z mount 400mm F4.5 lens. Someone once remarked on a forum post elsewhere that this lens wasn’t long enough for proper wildlife photography. This struck me as a stupid comment. I hope the following will demonstrate why; you simply need to get closer to your subject physically. For me, that’s half of the fun of wildlife photography - testing your hunting skills, without doing any physical harm to a beautiful, sentient creature.

More From the Photo Backlog

Following on from my last post - https://lukebennettphotos.com/blog/2026/1/31/photography-problems-the-ever-increasing-backlog-of-photographs-that-need-editing - here are a few more recent edits, done whilst recouping from surgery a month ago.

I’ve written on here before about how hard and sporadic it can be to get out and about with my camera, even at the best of times, but currently it’s impossible on an ongoing basis. Looking back through these photos whilst editing, I mostly feel gratitude - that despite the pain, exhaustion, and other consequences of getting out and taking them, I’m really pleased I did. I also feel worried that I might not be able to again for some time, or as frequently (despite it already being far from regular, and completely at the mercy of my health), or even at all. But that’s a story for another day.

The following were taken at various points in 2025. Of the beasties, all but the last four photos were of fully wild animals. The last four were taken in a National Trust property, so technically still wild, but within the confines of Charlecote Gardens, so no real skill is involved in sneaking up on them.

Roe Deer in Warwickshire

I have a spot I like to go to that I know will give me a pretty good chance of seeing roe deer. It’s somewhere I rarely see anyone else, thankfully, as I tend to be dressed up in ghillie suit camouflage, which is both embarrassing for me, and probably a bit terrifying for the casual observer.

On this occasion (for the first three shots) I was just about to give up and walk back as I hadn’t seen any hint of a deer at all. Then, suddenly, to my left two appeared. As seen in the first shot, one had some kind of idea that I was there, as I happened to be just standing in plain sight. But because I stayed perfectly still and had the camera obscuring my face, it didn’t seem too bothered. Instead of running, both roe deer gradually made their way round and up the hill, getting closer and allowing me to fire off a load of shots.

The black and white photo at the end is from a different occasion where we both startled each other and the deer bolted. Instead of also bolting, I grabbed my camera and fired off a burst. I’m really pleased with this photo and I’m planning on having it printed at some point.