Deer in the UK (part 1)
In the UK, we are lucky to have many deer living wild in our countryside. Some would go as far as saying that we were spoiled with six officially recognized wild species, some natives and some not.
Deer and their exotic counterparts gazelle, springbok, kudu, moose, elk etc… play a vital part in the ecosystems of the world. They clear pathways through thick undergrowth, spread seeds and nutrients uphill where rain only brings them down, and providing food sources in of themselves.
Fallow deer
Fallow deer are honored as native because of the time lapse between their somewhat clouded arrival to the British Isles and our classing of indigenous and alien species.
Fallow have potential for enormous impacts on woodlands, damaging if not kept in check, stripping sometimes all undergrowth and new branch shoots, which would ordinarily be shared with other species. They are also very large and can trample big areas of arable crops in herds of ten, twenty, fifty or hundreds strong as well as browsing in them.
Fallow deer are very widespread and have four varieties of pelage (deer fur) : white, menil, common (shown above) and black. These variations have no bearing on their habitats nor feeding, but purely genetic. Their natural lifespan is 8-16 years and they are the only U.K. species to have palmated antlers. Bucks begin to mature from 4 years and weigh up to 94 kg, they have an open season from August 1st - March 31st. Does’ open season is from 1st November to 31st March. Fecundity rates of fallow in the U.K. are typically 0.9 annually.
The fallow rut peaks in late October and the bucks have a far more muscular appearance, but hey eat very little during this time. This means that they lose a lot of condition as the rut goes on and that can be the moment when less dominant bucks are able to take over rutting stands.
When you know what to look for, it is obvious where there are too many deer by the missing undergrowth. The height at which the browsing ends will indicate what species are mostly responsible. This is also why different height tree guards exist, to protect only against the deer in the area.
Chinese water deer
Chinese water deer were introduced into the British countryside via escaping enclosed park lands. They have little effect in woodlands and will live mostly in grasslands and arable crops. They can eat crops as well as sit and travel within them, flattening small patches as they go. Arguably, they can begin to compete with hares and sheep for grass grazing if their numbers are too high, but generally they are the least damaging of all the deer in the U.K.
It is now rumored that we have quite possibly over 10% of the world’s population of chinese water deer in the U.K.
Chinese water deer never grow antlers but large tusks, which grow until 2 years of age, then are a fixed commodity, unlike antlers that are different each year. This makes it hard to distinguish young bucks from any does and it’s the reason why the open season for both sexes runs from 1st November to 31st March, avoiding all risk of orphaning dependent fawns. Bucks can weigh just about 18 kg. They rut in December and have a natural lifespan of around 6 years.
They can have up to 7 fœtus, but only one or two fawns commonly make it to sexual maturity. Chinese water deer are the least widespread deer in the U.K.
We love our wildlife and we love our deer. There are so many benefits to working with the fantastic variety of deer we have in the UK. Embracing their presence, learning their behaviors, preserving their habitats and sharing our land with them, is the key to cohabitation.