Wild boar and red deer
Recently I was in the south of Belgium, 2 times for a few days. The first time I stayed 2 days in a fixed hide where wild boar, red deer are regular visitors to the feeding station; with a little bit more luck you can photograph raccoon and when you are very lucky also the wild cat.These are all very wary animals that are very easily disturbed, so you have to behave and take care when to enter and leave the hide to increase your chances. Wild boar, red deer and even raccoon were successful. In this blog you can read my story of the raccoon: https://www.julienherremansphotography.com/post/zorro-in-belgium.
And there was more to come; after my morning session with the raccoon I could also photograph the wild cat during my morning walk in the surroundings; you can read this story here:
https://www.julienherremansphotography.com/post/de-wilde-kat-in-belgie
The second time my wife Linda and our little dog Joske joined me. We did several walks and we saw a wild cat twice far away in a meadow each time in the morning at the same time of day. I managed to locate the area and instead of spending another session in the hide I went to the 'cat' site in the evening and the morning heavily camouflaged, but the cat did not show up. Fantastic hobby wildlife photographer!
This was a herd of 18 red deer that showed up a few minutes before sunset. Unfortunately after 10 minutes they were disturbed by someone or something and ran off at full speed into the forest.
Wild boar showed up at seven in the evening, at morning no boar. And they came and went, several mothers with their offsprings from all ages, even some who I think were still sucklings.
These last 6 pictures are taken during a walk, and this is most extraordinary to have wild boar looking for food in the meadows during daytime. They were so busy that I could approach them within photo distance not camouflaged. Very special; first and only time.
The whole selection of pictures can be seen in the new album 'Ardennes':
https://www.ardennes.julienherremansphotography.com
Enjoy;