Nature
Winterwatch/ 043Where the life is
Deer
The UK is home to six species of deer, although
only two – the roe and red – are true natives. Fallow
deer were introduced by the Romans and later
reintroduced by the Normans, while sika deer
(among this year’s Winterwatch stars), Reeves’
muntjacs and Chinese water deer are late 19th/
early 20th-century arrivals. Sika deer, such as those
at RSPB Arne, aren’t always easy to distinguish
from red deer in winter, when the coats of both
the antlered stags (males) and hinds (females)
lose their spots and darken. (The sika’s white leg
gland is the giveaway). The two are closely related
and interbreeding is widespread. Both species
rut in autumn and their young are born mid-May
to late June. These are known as calves, although
confusingly, baby roe and muntjac deer are called
kids, and baby fallow and Chinese water deer are
fawns. Deer are active all day, but dawn and dusk
are the best times to spot them. Look for signs such
as hoof prints and trees stripped of bark. And, as
always when wildlife spotting, try to stay upwind.Grey seals
January marks the tail end of the grey seal
breeding season, which began in October.
Throughout the winter, females (known as cows)
come ashore to give birth to a single, white-furred
pup, which they’ll suckle for the next three weeks.
These cute little fellows treble in weight during
that time; seal milk contains a hefty 60 percent
fat. By the time the pups are weaned they will have
their waterproof adult pelts, but some may not
enter the waves and begin to hunt for another four
weeks, instead living off their blubber reserves.
Grey seals breed in traditional sites, known as
rookeries, and in large numbers: more than 2,000
pups are born every year at the UK’s largest seal
colony at Blakeney Point in Norfolk. They aren’t our
only pinnipeds (see ‘Did you know?’ on page 45):
common seals also breed in British waters, but do
so from June to August and in intertidal areas or
at sea. Their heads are a good way of telling the
two apart: those of common seals are smaller with
V-shaped nostrils; greys have a distinctive Roman
nose. Hence their not terribly flattering Latin name,
Halichoerus grypus: ‘hook-nosed sea pig’.Deer friends: (from left
to right) a male red deer,
a female roe deer and
a sika stagWords: Stephanie Cross. Photographs: iStock, Alamy