I love nature and have spent a lot of time this Summer in ancient woodland trying to track and capture a photograph of a Chinese Water Deer. Unfortunately they have proven very elusive with only two brief sightings.
Here is one of my favourite local wild animals, the European Fallow Deer, Fully grown females (does) are 0.73 to 0.91m at the shoulder and weigh between 35 to 56kg. If you see a white deer it may well be a fallow as they have four main variations of coat which includes white:
- Common – tan/fawn, with white spotting on flanks and white rump patch outlined with black horseshoe shaped border. Coat fades to a general grey colour during the winter
- Menil – paler colouration with white spots year-round and a caramel horseshoe shape on rump (This photograph)
- Melanistic – black, almost entirely black or chocolate coloured
- White – white to pale sandy-coloured turning increasingly white with age (this is a true colour and not albino).
For more information about British Deer please visit https://bds.org.uk/
