Tour Scotland Photograph Red Deer Stag Scottish Highlands

Tour Scotland photograph of a Red Deer Stag in the Highlands of Scotland. The red deer is Britain's largest land mammal. They are mostly found in Scotland.

All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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Tour Scotland Photograph Red Deer Stag North Fife

Tour Scotland photograph of a Red Deer Stage in North Fife, Scotland. Red deer, Cervus elaphus, are the largest native land animal in the UK and are found mainly in northern Scotland. Stags, males, are larger in size than females, and have magnificent branched antlers that can reach up to one metre in width. In summer, its coat is a deep reddish brown colour, giving the deer its name. In winter, the coat becomes longer, thicker and darker. Males and females stay in separate groups for most of the year; stags group into unrelated 'bachelor herds', while females, hinds, live in groups consisting of a dominant female and her daughters. They are active throughout the day but tend to be most active in the evening and at night. Their diet consists of shrubs, tree browse, grasses and heather. The Monarch of the Glen painting of a red deer stag completed in 1851 by the English painter Sir Edwin Landseer, which was commissioned as part of a series of three panels to hang in the Palace of Westminster in London, was one of the most popular paintings throughout the 19th century, and reproductions in steel engraving sold very widely, and the painting itself was finally bought by companies to use in advertising.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.

Tour Scotland Photograph Red Deer North Fife

Tour Scotland photograph of Red Deer in North Fife, Scotland. Red deer are a native species having migrated to Britain from Europe 11,000 years ago. They were used extensively by Mesolithic man as a source of food, skins and tools, bones and antlers. However, the development of agriculture by Neolithic man cleared swathes of forest to make way for fields and this loss of forest encouraged the decline of red deer populations, which became confined to the Scottish Highlands, south west England and a few other small, scattered populations.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.