The Golden Hour

I visited Leighton Moss again this week to hopefully see the red deer stags that had been roaring on previous visits but had remained hidden deep in the reed beds.It was to be an interesting session and began at Lillian's Hide. Here eight whooper swans had arrived.Whoopers are not often seen at Leighton and they were not welcomed by the resident mute swans which eventually saw them off. They provided nice photo opportunities and will be the subject of a future post.I spent the last three hours of the afternoon at the Griezdale Hide waiting for the red deer to show.It was a frustrating wait as stags could be heard roaring from the reed beds just in front of the hide.Eventually after a long wait a magnificent stag came out into the open and slowly crossed the open water to vanish into the reeds again.There was frantic clicking of shutters from the assembled photographers as the stag posed and roared for us in his all too brief three minutes on view.It had been a magic last hour with that lovely golden light and eventually the wonderful sight of a magnificent red deer stag.One of the memorable sights and sounds of Autumn and one I hope to witness again soon. Hope you enjoy the images below and thanks for looking in.