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This article by the late Tom Pirrie, former Chairman of
the Wildlife Club was published in the Autumn 2005 edition of
the Newsletter. It is the third in a series of four articles.
The Fallow Deer, Dama dama, is not normally regarded
as indigenous to Britain, and generally this is true for the
time after the last ice age when we were cut off from the mainland
of Europe. Previously to that time hundreds of bones from many
cave deposits have been identified as Fallow Deer and dated
to some 150,000 years ago. The first modern reintroduction of
Fallow is variously attributed to the Romans, Phoenicians or
Gauls. The first written record of Fallow deer is in the Domesday
Book compiled in 1086 when 30 Fallow Deer Parks are recorded.
By the 17th century in England over 700 English Deer Parks held
the status symbol of the time, a Deer Park. Since then the number
of Deer Parks has declined and by 1892 the number had fallen
in England to 390, and in 1975 D & N Chapman recorded only 5
in Scotland. By the time of the two World Wars the decline
continued
and in 1950 K.Whitehead recorded only 140 parks. At the present
time the number is below 100. Their beauty and elegance, gentle
behaviour and graceful movement, as well as the excellence of
the venison, make the Fallow a very suitable choice as a parkland
animal.
Deer Parks in Scotland were not as numerous as they were in
England and we are lucky to have in Annandale, one of the largest
unenclosed herds of Fallow Deer in the country. The Fallow Deer
were introduced into Raehills just after 1800 from Hopetoun,
they were not enclosed, no trace of any enclosure has been discovered,
either on the ground or on the old maps. The amount of forestry
at that time was much smaller than today with possibly no more
than 4/5 old woods near to the present house. This would have
provided cover and held the newly introduced Fallow close to
the house. Today this area is used by the pregnant Fallow does
as a gathering place during the early part of the year and occasionally
up to 200 or more does can be seen congregating, before they
disperse back to their own secluded area to drop their calves.
With the expansion of forestry the Fallow have expanded their
territory and can be seen from Earshaig right through to the
Forest of Ae. The hazards of the road network and motorway,
combined with the railway and the River Annan seem to have restricted
their expansion to the west.
Fallow Deer can also be seen in Galloway and other places in
Scotland, most of these feral herds have resulted from deer
that escaped from parks through broken park fences, especially
during the two World Wars. The present distribution is still
imperfectly known, K.Whitehead in his book on the Deer of Great
Britain and Ireland published in 1964 stated that half of the
Scottish 
counties,
seven Welsh counties and all but five counties in Northern Ireland
have some Fallow Deer. All counties in England have Fallow and
wild herds have existed in some ancient forests continuously
(the New Forest, Epping Forest, Cannock Chase, Rockingham Forest
and Forest of Dean) for many centuries, where in former times
they provided royal sport.
Unlike most deer, Fallow come in a variety of colours from almost
black to almost white, the most common is a rich fawn summer
coat with many prominent white spots on the flanks and a black
vertebral stripe. The tail is long for deer at about 23cm, it
is black on top and white beneath and is surrounded by a white
rump patch, bordered by a black, curved, almost heart-shaped
line. In winter this variety is duller brown-grey and the spots
are scarcely detectible. A paler variation of this coat pattern,
lacking all the black markings, is known as the menile variety;
its spots are retained in winter. Albino Fallow are very rare,
but animals with a white pelage and normal eye colour, but with
orange yellow, instead of black are not uncommon. A dark chocolate,
almost black, variety is present in some wild and park herds.
It has spots
of
a paler shade although, in some lights they are inconspicuous,
the tail and rump are also dark.
I have seen one pure cream coloured Fallow buck, he often comes
into the field in front of my house and is usually accompanied
by a younger buck. A mature Fallow buck is approximately 90cm
{3 feet) high, with a body length of 110cm {5 feet, 5 inches)
and a mature buck can weigh over 90kg (200lb). A very prominent
tuft of hair from the penis sheath is a distinctive characteristic
of the bucks and is conspicuous long before the pedicles, from
which the antlers grow later are noticeable. This can also help
to identify bucks without antlers. Fallow are primarily animals
of deciduous or mixed woodlands, although they will move out
of woods into fields, locally they appear to lay out to get
the early morning sun, and to chew the cud. Browsing and grazing
are both employed in obtaining food, but generally grazing predominates.
Leaves of many deciduous trees, ivy and bramble are plucked,
grasses and leaves, buds and flowers of various plants are grazed;
corn and potato crops, sugar beet fields and orchards are also
attractive feeding grounds. In the Autumn, large quantities
of acorns are consumed together with beech nuts, chestnuts,
crab apples and fungi are also eaten. In Hampshire, many woods
had large numbers of crab apple trees and it was not unusual
to see a Fallow deer staggering through the woods, I often wondered
if they suffered from a hangover.
For most of the year, the mature bucks live apart from the females
and juveniles, but during September they return to the does
area and prepare for the rutting season. This is a period of
time of tremendous activity for the bucks, during which they
mark out their territories and rutting stands. I think for preference
the bucks prefer their rutting stands to be in damp areas and
they usually have a strong "rutty buck" odour and urine is often
left in them; they are frequently visited and topped up as required,
The bucks also indulge in the thrashing and fraying of bushes
and young trees. Young elder and willow are popular targets
and are frequently beaten and thrashed with their antlers. Throughout
the rutting period, the bucks are continually patrolling their
area thrashing, fraying, scraping and groaning loudly. The does
are attracted into the bucks area and the mating activities
reach a peak in the last 2 weeks of October. The bucks do not
fight each other, nor do they herd as does the Red Deer.
The Fallow Deer are usually easily recognised by their distinctive
antlers. Like all deer they shed their antlers every year. The
young buck will grow his first head at the age of fourteen or
fifteen months, this will be a single unbranched spike, usually
3 to 15cm and is called a "pricket". In each succeeding year
until he reaches his prime, a bucks antlers increase in size,
provided that he is in good health and has not been injured.
By the second or third head the buck's antlers usually show
the beginnings of "palmation", the flattening and broadening
of that part furthest from the head. The "palmation" is characteristic
of Fallow.
I have spent over sixty years watching deer in many different
parts of the country, and I have always been impressed by their
grace and beauty, they are not difficult to find but you will
need to keep your wits about you, their faculties are far superior
to us, their eyesight and hearing are in a different league,
and the area in the brain that registers movement is approximately
twenty times larger than ours, so don't be disappointed if they
just disappear, with practise you will soon discover what you
can or cannot do, so good hunting.
