Certain things happen in nature at certain times of the year every year. Adders emerge. Lambing. Swallows return. Calves. Vixens scream. Deer rut.
And regardless of what means of communication you use year after year to try and get the message across, there are humans that will, without fail, exhibit the same inappropriate behaviour towards animals year after year.
Photos of an adder from directly above. Photos of a deer from inappropriately and potentially dangerously close.
And here’s the twist …
Some of these people getting on their belly within a metre of adders or stood mere metres away from stags in the rut are the exact same humans that splain all over the internet about how much they care about and know about ‘their’ animals on the park or moor or in the valley where they live.
Give them names.
Gang up in comments and forums on anyone that might propose that petting that highland cow calf might be inappropriate or that the distance you’re stood from that stag isn’t at least 50m (ideally 100m) but really ought to be. Ban them. Pile on them with vitriol.
Heaven forbid anyone that tries to explain to the splainer.
The Society that has self-appointed itself as the guardians of the local herd of red deer is gleafully posting on its FB group about their ‘fabulous morning’ with their massive lenses within single digit metres of stags. Normalising irresponsibility.
It went very under reported but there was an adder bite this summer. The casualty had picked the adder up.
Perhaps we actually need a few folk gored by stags.
Regardless of the inherent risk, i just find the urge / need / addiction to intrude in to the close personal space of a (testosterone fuelled) wild animal during the most important and stressful month of its year, just so that you can spray another dozen photos for the thousandth time on to social media (as you have done in October every year for the last 10 years), a little bit fucking odd to be honest.
Taken three years ago with a Sony RX10 III with a fully extended 600mm lens if you’re asking.