'Morning deer'

Since I returned to Ramsey the three red deer stags have been spending most of their busy deer lives around the slopes of Carn Ysgubor. Back in mid-April their testosterone levels dropped to a yearly low and they lost their antlers. This drop in hormone levels occurs as a result of a change in daylight hours and in theory the oldest stag should shed his antlers first and the youngest last. I found a few hidden in the emerging bracken, stuck in heather or lying in the middle of open fields.

I’m hoping to have a little go at some antler craft and make a few buttons or jewellery pieces for friends and for Christmas. Just after they’d lost their antlers they could be seen jumping and frolicking as they adapted to the change in weight. Although they had a small wound where the base of the antler had been this soon healed over and they had little respite before their new antlers started to grow again a couple of weeks later. Antler is one of the fastest growing organic materials and red deer antler, which is bone and not horn, can grow at a rate of about 2.5cm or 1inch per day. They already have substantial velvety pedicles and as they’re spending so much time around the hill and bungalow I managed to get a few pictures.

Antlers clearly serve more of a purpose than rutting and act as great scratchers for all those inaccessible places.

The antler growth in these pictures is alive, it has a blood flow and is covered in skin and hair commonly known as velvet. They will have a pulse and feel warm to the touch. Near the end of July the stag’s antlers will be fully grown.

The antler calcifies and therefore strengthens and as it does the blood supply to the antlers velvet is cut off. As the velvet shrinks and splits it becomes annoying to the stag who will then go about rubbing his antlers on the dry-stone walls and along the ground to rub it all off. The antlers should be free of velvet in August and just be bright white exposed bone. The white colouring soon fades to brown as the deer goes about its daily business.

Two of the stags are 12 pointers or ‘royal stags’ with 6 tines or points on each antler…the other hasn’t quite made it yet!

Almost every morning I see them just outside the Ramsey island bungalow and the growth is visible.