Deer Species in the United Kingdom.
There are six species of deer living wild in Great Britain today: Red Deer, Sika Deer, Fallow Deer, Roe deer, Chinese Water Deer & Muntjac. Of these, Red and Roe deer are native and have lived in the isles throughout the Holocene. Fallow has been reintroduced twice, by the Romans and the Normans, after they died out in the last ice age. The other three are escaped or released alien species.
Red deer (Cervus elaphus - Male Stag, Female Hind)
The red deer is Britain’s largest native land mammal (adult stags weigh up to 190 kg and are up to around 140 cm at the shoulder). In England the main concentrations are in south-western England, East Anglia, and the Lake District with a wide scatter of local herds elsewhere. In Wales there are a small number of isolated herds.
Sika deer (Cervus nippon - Male Stag, Female Hind)
Adult Sikas stand at around 1 metre at the shoulder, stags being larger than the hinds. About 50kg is an average adult Sika weight, larger stags can weigh up to around 80kg. Sika are becoming regarded as a pest in areas of conflict since the damage that they cause is serious and the rate of hybridisation with red deer alarming.
Fallow deer (Dama dama - Male Buck, Female Doe)
Adult male fallow deer (bucks) are generally 84 – 94 cm at the shoulder and weigh 46 - 94kg. Females (does) are 73 - 91cm at the shoulder and weigh 35 - 56kg. This places them in size between roe and red deer. The fallow is the only British deer with palmated antlers.
Roe deer (Capreolus capreolus - Male Buck, Female Doe)
Roe deer grow to 60 - 75cm at the shoulder and weigh up to 10 - 25kg.
Muntjac (Muntiacus reevesi - Male Buck, Female Doe)
Males grow to 44 - 52cm at the shoulder and weigh 10 - 18kg. Females are 43 - 52cm at the shoulder and weigh 9 - 16kg. Muntjac breed throughout the year. Their gestation period is 210 days and the fawn is weaned after 8 weeks. The doe is usually pregnant again within a few days of giving birth.
Chinese Water deer (CWD) (Hydropotes inermi - Male Buck, Female Doe)
Chinese water deer is a small species. Both adult males & females only reach a height of 50 – 55 cm at the shoulder and weigh 11 – 18 kg. This unusual deer is not a native UK species, having been introduced from China in the nineteenth century. It favours wet, marshy habitat and is a strong swimmer when it needs to. The buck carries large canine teeth or tusks and has no antlers.