Battling stags fight it out for supremacy in London’s autumnal Richmond Park

Red deer were captured scrambling against each other’s antlers at a royal London park as part of the annual rut season.

Photographer Toby Melville snapped the animal’s bowing their heads and locking their antlers in a bid to prove who’s boss at Richmond Park, London, today.

Moments later, the pair are seen tumbling on to the dewy grass as their clash grows increasingly heated in the spectacular images.

The rut starts as early as September through to November where male deer roar, bark and clash to try and attract as many females as possible.

Aggressive stags are likely to attack dogs during this mating season so walker’s are advised to go outside Richmond and Bushy or to stay at least 50 yards away.

This is just three weeks after a rutting stag butted into the side of a white Fiat Panda in the park and tore a hole in the steel.     

Adam Curtis, park manager for Richmond Park, has previously warned that despite the deer being kept in a park, this does not mean they are domesticated. 

More than 600 deer roam freely through Richmond Park and 300 in Bushy Park. 

The 630 red and fallow deer of the park, which is a national Nature Reserve, have been roaming freely since 1637. The deer have played a major role in the park’s history and have shaped the landscape too. 

Their grazing prevents seedlings from growing and keeps the grassland open at the park which is three times the size of New York’s Central Park.  

One of the deer crashes on to the dewy grass on the misty morning of October 27 while the other continues to prod its antlers into the side of its body, in the royal park. The pair are also likely to roar and bark to attract females

The photographer Toby Melville spotted the two speckled deer putting eachother through their paces at Richmond Park which is home to more than 600

A deer watches on as two of the others compete during the rut season which starts in September for the London park. The 630 red and fallow deer of the park, which is a national Nature Reserve, have been roaming freely since 1637

In a desperate bid to attract females, deer can die in the process of locking antlers and engaging in an intense fight. Visitors have been warned to stay at lest 50 yards away from the animals as Adam Curtis, park manager for Richmond Park, has warned about a group of 60 photographers encircling one stag. He has said that despite the deer are kept in a park, this does not mean they are domesticated

There are approximately 1,000 deer living in the parks in Richmond and Bushy in Surrey and London