26/10/2026
Last week, me and Ollie Daniels travelled to Exmoor with one mission: to track down and photograph a Red Stag.
Usually they're quite elusive, but at this time of year they're in the rutting season, when stags and their hinds are often seen out in the open. The stags bellow, thrash vegetation and posture to demonstrate their dominance and keep rival stags away from their hinds. If that fails, a fight can ensue, although more often than not it's settled with a bit of posturing and shouting.
After studying maps, we picked out a few areas that looked promising. Before sunrise we set off into the moor under the cover of darkness, listening out for their calls. Once we heard them, we carefully and quietly followed the sound until we eventually spotted a stag exactly where we'd hoped to find one.
Whether it was the same animal or a different one, a little later a stag appeared behind us, bathed in the first golden rays of sunlight as they spilled over the hill we'd just climbed.
An unforgettable moment, mission success.
