The Rut Has Set In

 

I had a fun experience on Saturday night. We had dinner at a friend's place, along with lots of others, for her unbirthday. She lives in the middle of the Loire Valley countryside, in an old farmhouse on a ridge surrounded by open fields. Beyond the fields is forest all around. The Red Deer rut (le brame in French, mating season) has started, so she and I stood out in the dark at about 10pm and listened to the stags roaring. They come out of the forest into the open to strut their stuff. It was only a crescent moon so we couldn't see them, but the sounds of several stags competing is impressive enough. For Australians, like me, they sound remarkably like male Koalas engaged in the same activity! (The photo is of a stag I took several years ago on the Chateau of Chambord estate.)