Nature Of Britain

Exmoor in the autumn has some brilliantly thrilling wildlife displays, and they're easier for members of the public to see than you might have thought.

Naturalist and wildlife presenter Mike Dilger gets up before dawn to join one of the mini-bus tours organised for visitors by the National Trust. It is the rutting season for the red deer and they are hoping to catch some of the action.

During the rut the males and females come together, during the rest of the year they each keep in their own groups. This tends to keep to the woodland areas in small groups, pushing the males up onto the hills in larger herds. If another stag challenges, in an attempt to win the hinds the males will roar at each other. Sometimes they walk in parallel to each other, assessing the other one's strength.

The deer are the largest land mammal in England. The sight of stags squaring up to each other during the autumn mating period is a memorable one. The displays are most likely to happen in the early morning or evening.