We came across these young fawns with a female ( a Doe) sheltering from the cold wind near the road as we walked up from Cross Stone.
A white male puzzled me for a while until it stood next to one which was obviously a Fallow Buck, from its palmate antlers and spotted coat. The white buck (white hart?) has broken antlers, but their head shape and sizes are identical, so I think they are both Fallow Deer. White Fallows are quite common; I once flushed a magnificently-antlered white buck which went leaping away in the New Forest, Hampshire. This seems an unsuitable field to keep a species that loves the deep sheltering wildwood.
Anyone willing to identify this other group of deer in the same field as the Fallows? They were obviously bigger and heavier. I'm not sure till I get the books out.
Are they Red Deer Steve?
ReplyDeleteRed.
ReplyDeleteI think Red as well, from their size, especially the stag. The females are apparently referred to as hinds in this species.
ReplyDeleteI have read that the rump patches are yellowish on Red Deer, like these, whereas on Sika Deer they are white. There is a herd of Sika penned into big fields near the park at Holywell Green.
Sika, which were introduced from the Far East, breed readily with wild Red Deer when they escape, and pure Red Deer herds are now a rarity in this country.