Fallow Deer

admin
, 17 October 2017
Fallow Deer
fallow deer bucks / Derek Middleton

By Charlotte Owen

WildCall Officer

The tranquillity of a woodland walk in October may well be broken by a deep, primeval groaning and the crack of bone striking bone as the fallow deer rut gets underway. This breeding frenzy is one of the autumn’s most impressive wildlife spectacles and the bucks are now in peak condition. They have put on a huge amount of muscle around their shoulders and necks, shed the protective velvet from their now fully-formed antlers and are pumped full of testosterone ready to attract females and drive off rival males. Having roamed around in bachelor groups for the last few months, separate from the females, there is now a triumphant return to traditional rutting areas where play fights and posturing soon develop into full-blown battle.

Bucks jostle for position with a great deal of stamping and parading, thrashing at vegetation with their antlers and churning up the ground to create wallows, urinating in them to make a muddy mess. This helps to mark their territory but is also a potent perfume when rolled in, advertising a buck’s strength, status and breeding prowess. These messages are reinforced by their belching groans, which communicate a range of vital statistics.

Generally, the more dominant bucks have deeper voices, often – but not always - because they are the largest animals. Fallow bucks can artificially deepen their voices by deliberately lengthening their vocal tracts while groaning, allowing smaller males to exaggerate their size. But as the rut progresses and the bucks start to tire, the length and quality of their groaning will decline and only the fittest males can groan loudest for longest. By listening for subtle changes in a rival’s calls, a buck can decide whether and when to mount a challenge and risk clashing antlers in a dangerous battle of strength and stamina. Competing bucks will push and shove each other with every fibre of their being until one of them relents, and injuries can be severe. The prize is worth fighting for though, as the victor will mate with a multitude of females and pass on his genes to the next generation.

Leave a comment
Time Δ Debug Message - Perch Runway 3.2
1783527493.54330 [906] SELECT p.pagePath, pr.routePattern, pr.routeRegExp, p.pageTemplate, pr.routeOrder, s.settingValue AS siteOffline FROM swt_pages_staging p LEFT JOIN swt_page_routes pr ON p.pageID=pr.pageID LEFT JOIN swt_settings s ON s.settingID='siteOffline' UNION SELECT NULL AS pagePath, pr2.routePattern, pr2.routeRegExp, pr2.templatePath AS pageTemplate, pr2.routeOrder, NULL AS siteOffline FROM swt_page_routes pr2 WHERE templateID!=0 ORDER BY routeOrder ASC, pagePath ASC
1783527493.57370.0305Matched route: news/[slug:s]
1783527493.5740.0002Server address: 216.73.216.55
1783527493.5740.0001Using master page: /templates/pages/blog/post.php
1783527493.5740Page arguments: 
Array
(
    [0] => /news/fallow-deer
    [s] => fallow-deer
    [1] => fallow-deer
)
1783527493.57440.0003 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783527493.57550.0011 [86] SELECT DISTINCT settingID, settingValue FROM swt_settings WHERE userID=0
1783527493.57720.0017 [1] SELECT locationID FROM swt_shop_tax_locations WHERE locationIsHome=1 LIMIT 1
1783527493.57770.0005INSERT INTO swt_shop_cart(memberID,locationID,currencyID,cartPricing,cartProperties) VALUES(NULL,'1',47,'standard','[]')
1783527493.57970.002 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=22788498
1783527493.58020.0005 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=22788498
1783527493.58070.0005 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_sales WHERE saleFrom<='2026-07-08 16:18:00' AND saleTo>'2026-07-08 16:18:00' AND saleActive=1 AND saleDeleted IS NULL ORDER BY saleOrder ASC
1783527493.5820.0012 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='fallow-deer')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-08 16:18:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 10
1783527493.58490.003 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1783527493.58560.0006 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postID=1436 AND postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-08 16:18:00'
1783527493.58650.0009 [13] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_sections ORDER BY sectionTitle ASC
1783527493.58710.0007 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blogs ORDER BY blogTitle ASC
1783527493.58790.0008 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=181 LIMIT 1
1783527493.58840.0005 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=91 LIMIT 1
1783527493.58880.0005Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783527493.58910.0003 [162] SELECT catID, catPath FROM swt_categories
1783527493.58990.0008 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-08 16:18:00' AND postSlug='fallow-deer'
1783527493.61040.0205Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783527493.61110.0007 [250] SELECT country, countryID FROM swt_shop_countries WHERE countryActive=1 ORDER BY country ASC
1783527493.61250.0013Using template: /templates/pages/attributes/seo.html
1783527493.61270.0002 [1] SELECT regionID, regionTemplate, regionPage, regionRev AS rev FROM swt_content_regions WHERE regionKey='Banner image' AND (regionPage='/news/post' OR regionPage='*')
1783527493.61340.0007 [nil] SELECT * FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, c.regionID, idx.pageID, c.itemJSON, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_content_index idx JOIN swt_content_items c ON idx.itemID=c.itemID AND idx.itemRev=c.itemRev AND idx.regionID=c.regionID JOIN swt_content_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev AND idx2.indexKey='_order' WHERE ((idx.regionID=104 AND idx.itemRev=0)) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev ) as tbl GROUP BY itemID, pageID, itemJSON, sortval, regionID ORDER BY sortval ASC
1783527493.61440.0011 [82] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageDepth >=0 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783527493.61720.0028 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783527493.61770.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783527493.61980.002Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template.html
1783527493.61980 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783527493.62060.0008 [4] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783527493.6210.0004 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783527493.62240.0014 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783527493.62290.0005 [7] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783527493.62370.0008 [9] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783527493.62530.0017 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' OR pageSortPath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783527493.62610.0007 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageHidden=0 AND pageNew=0 AND pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition
1783527493.62820.0022 [1] Using template: /templates/navigation/breadcrumbs.html
1783527493.62870.0005Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783527493.6290.0003 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='1' LIMIT 1
1783527493.62970.0007Using template: /templates/blog/author.html
1783527493.63010.0004 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='fallow-deer')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-08 16:18:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 1
1783527493.6320.0019 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1783527493.63240.0005 [1] Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783527493.63550.0031Using template: /templates/blog/comment_form.html
1783527493.63670.0012 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_comments WHERE 1=1 AND postID=1436 AND commentStatus='LIVE' ORDER BY FIELD(webmentionType, 'like', 'repost', 'comment', NULL) ASC, commentDateTime ASC
1783527493.6870.0503 [0] Using template: /templates/blog/comment.html
1783527493.68730.0003Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783527493.68760.0003 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='1' LIMIT 1
1783527493.68840.0008 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/what-we-do' OR pageSortPath='/what-we-do' LIMIT 1
1783527493.6890.0006 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-002' LIMIT 1
1783527493.68950.0006 [7] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-002%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783527493.69180.0022 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783527493.69220.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783527493.69390.0017 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783527493.69460.0007 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1783527493.69520.0005 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1783527493.69560.0004 [38] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783527493.69780.0022 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783527493.69820.0004 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783527493.70010.0019 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783527493.70350.0034 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/visit' OR pageSortPath='/visit' LIMIT 1
1783527493.70410.0006 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-004' LIMIT 1
1783527493.70450.0004 [30] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-004%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783527493.70670.0021 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783527493.70720.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783527493.7090.0018 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783527493.71170.0027 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1783527493.71240.0006 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1783527493.71270.0004 [11] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783527493.71460.0019 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783527493.7150.0004 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783527493.71720.0022 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783527493.71850.0012Request time: 0.1833
1783527493.71850Process time: 0.1808
1783527493.71850Memory: 1.6221