The camera is placed at the edge of a wood on the island Saaremaa, Estonia's biggest island:
Map copyright Google
Saaremaa with 2,673 km² the largest of the Estonian islands, with about 31.700 (2014) inhabitants, is located off the Estonian mainland in the Baltic Sea. In the capital city Kuressaare live about 13.000 people (source: Wikepedia https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuressaare). Its historic name Arensburg is derived from Middle High German a(a)r: eagle, raptor.
Saaremaa boasts of a rich flora and fauna in a mild maritime climate. About 40% of the island is covered with forests. The island is interesting for bird lovers as it lies within the East - Atlantic flyway, the migration path of waterfowl. Every year hundreds of thousands of migratory birds visit Saaremaa during spring and autumn migration. The barnacle goose, mute swan, whooper swan, eider, shelduck and a great many other bird species have been given protection status. The coastal areas are famous seal habitats. Both, grey seal and ringed seal can be seen in the coastal waters around Saaremaa. But on the whole, the island is somewhat poorer in wildlife species than the mainland. Neither mole, mink, nor otter can be found here, the lynx and the brown bear are but infrequent guests.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saaremaa and http://www.saaremaa.ee/index.php?option ... Itemid=257
Weather: http://www.ilm.ee/kuressaare/?linn=kuressaare
Last season we have been able to hear the Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) during their rut. Unfortunately they did not come close to the camera during that time, but during the winter we could see smaller skirmishes between stags.
The red deer is the fourth-largest deer species behind moose, elk and sambar deer. Generally, the male (stag or hart) red deer is typically 175 to 250 cm long and weighs from 160 to 240 kg, the female is 160 to 210 cm long and weighs 120 to 170 kg. Size varies in different subspecies. European red deer are mostly wearing reddish-brown summer coat. The males of many subspecies also grow a short neck mane during the autumn. Red deer hinds (females) do not have neck manes. Only the stags have antlers, which start growing in the spring and are shed each year, usually at the end of winter, as we could witness in front of the camera.
The native population of red deer in Estonia has been extinct already before the 10th century. The present population of red deer in the Baltic states was reintroduced by bringing deer from various countries like Russia, Poland and Germany. Usually they were kept in fenced enclosures by aristocrats (so-called "deer parks"), from where sometimes deer escaped to the wild. In Estonia intentional release of red deer began in 1927 when some animals, a gift by the German consul were released on the small island of Abruka close to Saaremaa. (Source: European Ungulates and Their Management in the 21st Century by Marco Apollonio, Reidar Andersen, Rory Putman)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_deer
A map showing the distribution of red deer in Estonia (winter track index)
(taken from: http://www.looduskalender.ee/en/node/21149)
