Hobbyist wildlife photographer Brian Johnston has spent much of the summer looking for an elusive “white hart,” a rare albino male red deer. So when he got a tip that the stag had returned, he spent a weekend trying to frame the magical-looking creature in his lens.
Johnston not only managed to capture several photographs of the rare deer, but also found another animal on his wish list: two young foxes.
Johnston, who is a lorry driver (truck driver) by weekday and hobbyist photographer by weekend, set out last Saturday with a friend and fellow wildlife photographer Will Cory near Devon, England. The pair was lucky enough to spot the white deer, but the stag got wind of them and left before the photographers could get a photograph.
While disappointed that he hadn’t managed to get a good photograph of the white hart, what happened next is one of Johnston’s favorite encounters during the three years that he’s spent photographing wildlife. As the two photographers continued walking around, they spotted a fox in the distance and stopped to wait – and then two young foxes came out and played right in front of them.
“I’ve been wanting to get foxes for ages and ages,” Johnston said. “Two young foxes appeared, and they were happily playing in front of us. We watched them for about ten minutes, and we managed to get some really nice photos. That was pretty special. I wanted to get pictures for so long, and normally you see them from afar, so being up close to two foxes was really good.”
The following day, the photographers returned to the area and spotted the white stag sleeping in the field. While the creature was sleeping, the photographers quietly found a good vantage point, then waited. After about half an hour of watching the white hart sleep, the deer woke up and stood, allowing the photographer to capture several photographs.
The wildlife encounter is the second time that Johnston has photographed the white stag, after previously photographing the creature last fall, when the stags are most active due to the mating season.
Seeing an albino red deer is unusual. Leucistic male red deer are more common than a true albino deer, according to the British Deer Society. A leucistic deer will have white fur, but still have normal colors to its eyes and nose. Albinism is a genetic condition that causes a lack of pigment. The deer that Johnston photographed has the light nose and eyes that suggest the deer is albinistic, not leucistic.
The unusual sight is, in part, what drew Johnston into wildlife photography. “The first time I’ve ever seen one was three years ago, when I first started doing wildlife. A friend of mine, Will Corey, kept going on to me about this white stag that he had seen a few years ago. I thought, ‘He must be joking, making it up.’ But then, when I actually saw it, I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was unusual to see something like that. It’s become a bit of an obsession, trying to see him again and get pictures of him.”
Johnston photographed the white stag – and the foxes – with the Nikon D780 DSLR and a Sigma 160-600mm f/5-6.3G lens.
For new wildlife photographers. Johnston advises patience and persistence. “When you are out and about, stop and listen. Wait, and you’ll start to see something.”
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