WILD THING

WILD THING The fallow deer

Brian Pike reports on these captivating creatures thriving in North Yorkshire

here are six species of deer living wild in the UK: red, roe, fallow, sika, muntjac and Chinese water deer. Fallow deer were introduced to Britain by the Romans but became extinct when the Roman Empire collapsed. They were subsequently reintroduced by the Normans, and have long been prized for their ornamental qualities.

Fallow deer were the go-to deer species for status-conscious nobles keen on creating their own deer parks. Many deer parks fell into disrepair in medieval times, and fallow deer used the opportunity to escape. Since then substantial populations – today numbering around 100,000 animals – have lived wild in the countryside.

Fallow deer usually have rich, caramel-brown coats dappled with pale spots, white rumps and black-striped tails. Individuals vary widely, however. Some can be pure black, others pure white. But what makes the bucks instantly recognisable, whatever the colour of their pelts, are the broad, palmate antlers with which they engage other males in combat during the autumn rutting season.

The fallow deer’s preferred habitat is open deciduous or mixed woodland where they live in small herds of ten to fifty individuals. In spring and summer they graze on grasses, herbs and the leaves of broadleaved trees. In autumn and winter they subsist on nuts, berries, bark and fungi.