It's Friday the 20th October. I walk out into the Knepp Wildland as the light fails. It smells and sounds-like autumn. It’s the time for the rut when the fallow deer bucks fight for territory and females. I’m up in the oak tree platform, it’s now completely dark, and I’m surrounded. Bucks are belching and antlers are clashing in the woodlands to the left and right of me. I hear splashing in the darkness as a buck decides to cross the lagoon in front of me. A tawny owl calls. Planes fly overhead. I wish I could stay safely in the tree platform until morning light, but dinner calls, and I have to be brave.

#KneppWildland #Rewilding #DeerRut

Knepp Soundscape #19 - The fallow deer rut

Hazel Reeves