Petworth Park, West Sussex, October 2024
Petworth Park is a 700-acre deer park landscaped by Capability Brown in the 18th century, and home to one of the largest herds of fallow deer in England, roaming its rolling parkland. Every October the fallow bucks come into rut, and the park fills with the deep groans of competing bucks, clashing antlers and a general air of testosterone-fuelled chaos beneath the turning autumn colour.
An October 2024 visit landed right in the middle of the rut: bucks groaning and locking antlers across the open grassland, a rare all-white fallow deer standing out among the herd, and a hot air balloon drifting over the park at dawn. Away from the deer, the ancient parkland trees were turning gold and orange, and the damp autumn ground had brought out an impressive range of fungi, from tall parasol mushrooms to clusters of tiny bonnets in the moss.
