Visitors to Bushy Park are being warned to stay at least 50 metres from rutting deer after a group of people were videoed getting too close.

Photographers can be seen crowding stags near the park's Heron Pond, in shocking footage shared by park user Stephen Darlington yesterday.

Now the Royal Parks is warning visitors to both Bushy and Richmond parks to stay away from the deer.

The charity which runs 8 of London's parks explained that during deer mating season - known also as rutting season - male deer are "flooded with testosterone and adrenaline."

Red stags and fallow bucks can become unpredictable while they compete for female attention, they added, and can also be seen roaring and piling greenery onto their antlers in a bid to look bigger.

The Royal Parks are advising visitors to:

- Stay at least 50 metres away from deer and use binoculars if you want to see them closely

- Keep your dogs on leads or walk them elsewhere

- Never get in between two rutting deer

- Abide by the British Deer Society's Code of Conduct

In recent years park visitors have been injured after getting too close to deer.

In 2018, a young girl was injured after being photographed next to a rutting stag in Bushy Park, while just a year earlier a visitor to Richmond Park suffered injuries from a male deer and was hospitalised.

Bushy Park manager Phil Edwards joined calls for park users to keep back from bucks and stags.

He said: "Of course it's disrespectful to get this close to wild animals, however what I really struggle to understand is why these photographers are taking such obvious risks with their own safety.

"These animals are wild and therefore unpredictable, and during the rut stags and bucks are pumped full of testosterone.

"Furthermore, they can weigh upwards of 25 stone and travel up to 30mph, so getting hit by one is the equivalent of being mown down by a motorbike."

He also warned that chasing deer for photos could ruin the parks' status as a haven for nature.

"Richmond and Bushy Parks are very special because the wild deer roam freely, and animal lovers can observe them behaving naturally from a distance," he said.

"What's not a pretty picture is seeing these majestic animals followed, cornered, sometimes even enticed so that people can get the 'perfect' shot of them.

"Keep Wildlife Wild by leaving them alone, and just give them a bit of respect."

Charles Smith-Jones, technical adviser for the British Deer Society added: "No matter how relaxed park deer may seem about human presence, never forget that they are wild animals.

"Please give them plenty of space and enjoy the spectacle of the rut from a sensible distance.

"This is not just to avoid disturbing them at this important part of the deer year but is very much for your own safety as well."

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