Ray Collier Country Diary - Roe Deer
28th January 2008 - Roe Deer
The most widespread deer in the area around Inverness is not, as one might expect, the red deer but the roe deer. Part of this small deer’s success is down to the fact that it can occupy a wide range of habitats from farmland to woodland and large gardens to river banks. Roe deer are opportunists, simply needing some cover and a supply of rich food that may take the forms of bark, buds and growing shoots. The summer feed includes broadleaf trees such as ash, hazel and oak whilst in the winter they will seek out heather, spruce, bilberry, hazel twigs and grasses. They are mainly a woodland deer but in recent years they have been found more and more on open ground even way out on moorland.
The life cycle starts with the rut in late July until the middle of August and kids, sometimes called fawns, are born in the following May or June. The reason for this long period of gestation is that there is a delay in the implantation of the egg, this is the only deer species that has this phenomena. The implantation does not take place until the end of the year, more than four months after the rut. At first the kid is brownish black with longitudinal rows of white spots along its back and flanks. The black on the upper lip is very distinctive. This cryptic colouring leads to excellent camouflage in even short vegetation. The spots begin to fade after six weeks and disappear by October, at the latest. Milk is given to the kid until winter and even after mating the kid continues to nurse and stays with the doe until next years kid is about to be born and then it is chased off. Twins are common and triplets occasional but the latter seldom survive.
Mortality is highest in the few weeks after birth, as high as 65 %, and there are a number of reasons. If the weather is bad in the first winter some may die of starvation or infections. Road casualties are heavy in some areas and more than we realise as kids killed on the road are often taken by scavengers such as foxes, gulls and crows before we see them. Agricultural machinery also takes its toll particularly of young kids. Natural predators include fox and larger birds of prey. In areas where there are large numbers of roe deer young deer may die of they fail to set up their own territory. Domestic dogs are an increasing problems in woodland around Inverness and not only large dogs are involved. Some people’s idea of having a dog under control is to let the dog off a lead at the entrance to a wood and call it to heel when leaving the wood. Many roe deer, young and old, are savaged by such dogs and the deer are often left with horrific injuries. The photograph was taken in the last two weeks shows the distinctive features of a roe doe in the pale rump patch, the black nose and the foxy red coat. The doe lives in a wood just to the south of Inverness and here she is in the garden of a nearby house. There is no stalking in the wood and the house owners have just been accepted by the doe.
The most widespread deer in the area around Inverness is not, as one might expect, the red deer but the roe deer. Part of this small deer’s success is down to the fact that it can occupy a wide range of habitats from farmland to woodland and large gardens to river banks. Roe deer are opportunists, simply needing some cover and a supply of rich food that may take the forms of bark, buds and growing shoots. The summer feed includes broadleaf trees such as ash, hazel and oak whilst in the winter they will seek out heather, spruce, bilberry, hazel twigs and grasses. They are mainly a woodland deer but in recent years they have been found more and more on open ground even way out on moorland.
The life cycle starts with the rut in late July until the middle of August and kids, sometimes called fawns, are born in the following May or June. The reason for this long period of gestation is that there is a delay in the implantation of the egg, this is the only deer species that has this phenomena. The implantation does not take place until the end of the year, more than four months after the rut. At first the kid is brownish black with longitudinal rows of white spots along its back and flanks. The black on the upper lip is very distinctive. This cryptic colouring leads to excellent camouflage in even short vegetation. The spots begin to fade after six weeks and disappear by October, at the latest. Milk is given to the kid until winter and even after mating the kid continues to nurse and stays with the doe until next years kid is about to be born and then it is chased off. Twins are common and triplets occasional but the latter seldom survive.
Mortality is highest in the few weeks after birth, as high as 65 %, and there are a number of reasons. If the weather is bad in the first winter some may die of starvation or infections. Road casualties are heavy in some areas and more than we realise as kids killed on the road are often taken by scavengers such as foxes, gulls and crows before we see them. Agricultural machinery also takes its toll particularly of young kids. Natural predators include fox and larger birds of prey. In areas where there are large numbers of roe deer young deer may die of they fail to set up their own territory. Domestic dogs are an increasing problems in woodland around Inverness and not only large dogs are involved. Some people’s idea of having a dog under control is to let the dog off a lead at the entrance to a wood and call it to heel when leaving the wood. Many roe deer, young and old, are savaged by such dogs and the deer are often left with horrific injuries. The photograph was taken in the last two weeks shows the distinctive features of a roe doe in the pale rump patch, the black nose and the foxy red coat. The doe lives in a wood just to the south of Inverness and here she is in the garden of a nearby house. There is no stalking in the wood and the house owners have just been accepted by the doe.
posted by Corinne @ 1:18 PM
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