While London residents have become used to wildlife such as birds and foxes living in our residential areas and sharing the city, a surprising new species are coming to visit in ever increasing numbers.

Urban deer are becoming a regular feature in the city, as whole herds come into residential estates under cover of darkness each night to take advantage of the capital's green spaces.

Wildlife photographer Sam Hobson has used these urban deer as the subject for his latest project, capturing this nightly journey in an eerie series of photographs.

London's urban deer: in pictures

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"Wildlife photographers typically come from wild places full of wild animals," says Sam as he describes how he captured the nocturnal visitors to London's estates in January.

"I grew up in London, so had a fairly different starting point, but learnt at a young age that if you look in the right places, wildlife is all around us - even in the city

"It has always fascinated me that the artificial landscape we've created for ourselves is also home to a huge variety of wild animals. I've shot several series on surprising urban species, from badgers to birds of prey, but when I heard about these large fallow deer wandering into the city to graze by night, I had to check it out for myself.

"I must have looked pretty strange to the locals on their way home from a night out, sat in the dark by a zebra crossing with my long lens balanced through my window."