Geograph - photograph every grid square

Swimming stag, Upper Pen Pond, Richmond Park

When I first noticed it, this stag was standing at the shore of the pond, in Pond Plantation - an area which is fenced off on its landward side, so that the animal can only have reached it by wading or swimming. It soon took to the water, and struck out towards the pond's small island. The smoothness of its forward motion made it clear that the stag was swimming rather than wading. The photo shows a noticeable wake.

I don't remember - in many years - having seen a deer swim across this pond before. They frequently wade along the south-eastern shore to reach the seclusion of Pond Plantation, an area where the hinds give birth, every June.

This stag scrambled ashore on the island, causing some commotion among the nesting and roosting wildfowl. Half an hour later I happened to be walking along the far shore of the pond when the stag came ashore nearby - and shook itself, like a dog.

Richmond Park is a National Nature Reserve