Sunday 3 October 2010

Red Deer

I have ben so busy with the Wight Surf History project that it was looking very unlikely that I was going to get over to the New Forest in time for the rut this year. So I decided to take my girls to see the Red Deer on the Island. We have at least a couple of herds of farmed Red Deer on the Island and they are still magnificant animals to see. These particular deer are still quite nervous and we had to keep very still and quiet. My two girls were very excited at having seen them at such close quarters and didn't stop talking about it for over a week.








3 comments:

  1. Farmed red deer. That seems OK then. You had me worried. I thought that deer and squirrels didn't mix because of the vegetation that the deer prefer... and therefore none on the Island. Wrong obviously. Now, are you going to tell us where?

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  2. Hi David. I am not going to give out their location on here but if you do a little research you will find them as they are not a secret. All the best. Paul

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  3. One of the Isle of Wight's best kept secrets is that we have a small number of Red Deer living and breeding in the wild. They are very shy and secretive and far more difficult to spot than any farmed deer. Scientific studies have shown that when deer are at low numbers such as we have on the island their browsing and grazing can enhance biodiversity by creating valuable woodland edge mosaics of grassy and shrubby understorey favourable to some of the other rare mammals that we have here including red squirrels, hazel dormouse and woodland bats

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