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Nature Notes Deer, oh deer!
It’s the season for food and flight – everyone is stocking up on berries, mushrooms and nuts whilst birds and animals are coming and going to find their winter homes. Meanwhile it’s a busy time for deer and for the 3 largest species (red, fallow and sika) autumn (normally around dawn and dusk) is the rutting season when the male deer fight over females looking for the perfect mate.
Red deer – UK’s largest land animal and an iconic sight on moorlands like Exmoor and the Cairngorms. Reddish brown in the summer and grey/brown in the winter the males are recognisable by their large antlers which can grow up to 15kg in weight. Each new set of antlers tend to be progressively more branched.
Roe deer – Most common native deer, widespread across woodland, farmland, grassland and heathland habitats. Distinctive pale rump and short antlers and no tail. They are mostly brown turning reddish in the summer and darker grey in the winter and have small antlers known as tines with 2 or 3 prongs.
●You might have noticed that the deer population is thriving – they’re regularly spotted locally in woodland, sometimes by the river, rushing across roads and even recently in the corridors of Derriford Hospital. During the last 2 decades, the deer population in the UK has doubled.
● Deer are herbivores who eat plants, grasses, leaves and/or fruits and berries. With a fondness for tree bark and other valuable habitats and crops they can be quite destructive and deer management is often essential for controlling the population.
● Out of the 6 species that live in the British countryside only red deer and roe deer are indigenous and identification is not always easy when they appear out of nowhere and move very quickly.
Fallow deer - normally found on farmland and in in traditional deer parks like Dartington and Powderham. Their coats are tan and spotty in summer which in the winter months turn dark grey with indistinct spots. These are the only British deer with palmate antlers (meaning a similar shape to hands or feet).
Muntjac deer – these small stocky deer were introduced into the UK from China in the 1830s. This non-native species is gingery-brown with a pale underside, with dark stripes on its face and small, single-pointed antlers. Unlike other deer they don’t have a set rutting season.
Sika deer – these medium size deer are found in woodland or shrubby undergrowth. In summer they can look like fallow deer with yellow-brown coats with white spots. In winter this turns to a greyish-brown colour with a white rump and short tail.
Chinese water deer – these small deer are normally only seen in South East England. They are russet brown for most of the year and have prominent tusks rather than antlers. As their name implies they are often found in freshwater marshlands, woodland and reed beds. Sources: Devon Wildlife Trust, Te Woodland Trust, BBC
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