Deer in Britain
There are three indigenous species of deer
in Britain:
- the red deer (Cervus elaphus)
- the paler-coloured fallow deer (Dama
dama) introduced by the Normans
- the much smaller roe deer (Capreolus
capreolus).
They originally lived in forests and were
common in medieval times.
| Hert is
a commoun beest I nowe and therfore me nedeth not to telle
of his makyng for ther bene fewe folk that ne han seye
some |
=
The adult male red deer is common enough not to need me
to describe him; nearly everyone has seen some. |
| So
begins the opening chapter of the Master
of Game, c 1410 |
Cattle rearing had actually begun to cause their decline
from the 13th C, although in the high Yorkshire Pennines wild
herds of red deer were still being recorded in the late 16th
C (Pollard 1990 p 201). Nowadays with fewer forests, wild
deer are much less common, although red still
exist in Scotland under the loose control of gamekeepers.
Apart from the rutting season in September and October, they
live in two segregated herds,
males staying apart from females and young. After
two winters with his mother, aged 20-22 months, the
young male leaves her to join the older males. Their
average life expectancy is 12 years.
Antlers
One of his most remarkable features is his antlers, which
he sheds and regrows annually. Roe vary slightly
from the following approximate details for red and
fallow:
| Early antler
growth |
| |
1st year |
2nd year |
3rd year |
| May-July |
born |
|
|
| August |
|
|
2nd. antlers fully
grown |
| Sep |
|
|
|
| Oct |
|
|
|
| Nov |
|
|
|
| Dec |
antlers begin |
|
|
| Jan |
|
|
|
| Feb |
|
|
|
| Mar |
|
leaves mother |
|
| Apr-May |
|
sheds 1st. antlers |
sheds 2nd. antlers |
| May |
|
2nd. antlers begin |
3rd. antlers begin |
| Jun |
|
|
|
A male deer starts developing small, single-pointed
or forked antlers from his first winter, aged about
six months. These should be the length of the ears
by the following September, newly into his second
year. He can still be carrying this first head up
to the following May, aged about 22 months old.
His second head will be fully grown just into his
third year of life. These antlers will have between
4 and 8 points (tines) and nowadays under controlled conditions
more can be achieved. So, depending on conditions and how
far into the year it was, two-year-old wild male deer
carried antlers with 1 to 8 tines.
| Note: Information mostly from
de Nahlik 1987 pp 51-60; Vesey Fitzgerald 1946; Chaplin
1977. For antlers: Baugher 1995; Lloyd 1975; Prior 1987.
|
|
