My Best Wild Roe Deer Photos

I’ve posted a couple of these shots previously, but I’ve recently had time (whilst recovering from more surgery) 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.

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.

Gratuitous Top 5 Wildlife Photos of the Last Arbitrary Period of Time

I’m as bad as updating this blog as ever, despite having a backlog of photos I’d like to share, spanning years and years. One of the things that puts me off is coming up with interesting things to write alongside the images.

It’s just occurred to me, however, I just need a top five list! As such, here are some wildlife photos, in no particular order, from no particular time period, for your viewing pleasure. Please enjoy.