Sika deer
The years seem to shoot past quicker each year. I am always busy in my role at GWCT and family life is never a slow pace – having a young child always keeps me on my toes! But what I do to keep grounded and appreciate moments in time is be aware of the season changing. It seems to slow things down and make me more present. The leaves are changing, the nights are drawing in, young tawny owls are calling a lot at night setting up territories (and keeping me awake), and the pockets of nearly all my jackets are full of conkers and other ‘autumn nature treasure’ that my daughter has collected on various walks.
But one thing I always look forward to is the rut. As I have said before in previous Species of the Months, my grandad was a massive influence in building the foundations for my love of nature, especially watching deer during the rut. We used to creep up on the reds and fallow in the New Forest and watch them from afar, as they crashed about and bellowed through the woods.
While making the most of the autumn sunshine, we recently headed to Studland in Dorset to meet friends and go for a swim and lunch at the local pub, and while we were there we saw and heard the sika deer calling their unique whistling call, which pinged a mental moment that autumn was truly here and the sika were entering into the rut at last!
Sika (Cervus nippon) are one of the six species of deer found in the UK (red, roe, fallow, muntjac, Chinese water and sika), but only two – red and roe – are truly indigenous. Sika are native to Asia and were brought to the UK, like many other non-native species, as a curiosity to populate deer parks in the 19th Century, which then quickly escaped and became established in the wild.
What they look like and where to see them
Sika are medium to large in size (between fallow and red), and when fully grown stags weigh between 40 and 70kg and hinds 30 to 45kg. By comparison, an average adult man in Britain weighs 85kg. They could be mistaken for red deer as they are similar in appearance, but sika heads are smaller in comparison to their bodies.
The sika deer coat colour varies, from pale yellow/brown through to red/brown with white spots in the summer months to dark grey and black in the winter, with an often distinct dark-coloured dorsal stripe running the length of the back. They have a shorter tail than the fallow and its black stripe is less distinct, with white glands on the hind legs and a white rump. The stags have widely spaced antlers, with the maximum of eight points, and the angle of the forward point from the main antler beam is about 45°.
Distribution
As I said, sika were introduced from the Far East into Britain in 1860, into a number of enclosed parks, but the only free-living form in Britain is considered to be the Japanese sika. The preferred habitat is on acid soils in coniferous woodlands and on heaths.
Their distribution is patchy in England (bands exist across the north and south) with hotspots in the south of England in the New Forest and the Dorset coast around Studland, but are widespread in Scotland and expanding from west to east with a strong population in Peeblesshire. They are also present in Northern Ireland (in County Fermanagh and County Tyrone) and it is thought that almost all (if not all) living English, Scottish and some Irish sika are descendants from only one stag and three hinds introduced to Viscount Powerscourt’s deer park at Enniskerry, Eire in 1860.
Diet
- Grasses and dwarf shrubs, especially heather, and occasionally small quantities of coniferous tree shoots and tree bark.
Sika do browse on tree shoots and agricultural crops, and bark stripping and bole scoring (gouging with the antlers) of plantation trees puts sika in conflict with farmers and foresters due to economic damage.
Lifecycle
Sika deer live in single-sex groups for most of the year, only coming together during the breeding season (the rut) from the end of September to November, and again in winter when times are harder. The males typically hold and defend a rutting territory, much like fallow deer do, and they may also switch to harem-holding when a group of hinds has been assembled. After which the hinds give birth to a single calf during early May to late June, after a gestation period of seven and a half months.
Sika-red deer hybrids
According to the British Deer Society, hybridisation appears to be most pronounced at the edges of population ranges where both species meet. The first cross between the species has the appearance of both parents, but subsequent crosses result in the hybrid having the dominant parental appearance. This makes selective culling impossible, potentially reduces income from sport shooting, and poses a major threat to the genetic integrity of native red deer. Indeed, some suggest that there are no purebred red deer surviving in mainland Britain and only sika in the New Forest and Peeblesshire.
Did you know…
- The name comes from ‘shika’, the Japanese word for deer.
- They can live, exceptionally, up to 18 years.
- In the 1900s, King Edward VII gave a pair of sika to the second Baron Montagu of Beaulieu, which escaped into Sowley Wood and were the basis of the population of sika in the New Forest.
As always, with all wildlife and all year round, make sure you keep your distance but especially during the breeding season. However good it is to watch or take photographs, make sure you are out of sight and not impacting a crucial time of year for the species, as human (and dog!) disturbance can alter behaviour and breeding success.
While you are in areas known to have sika, listen out for their strange but enchanting repertoire of calls. From groaning stags to clacking noises, whistles and screams, they have a huge variety of vocalisations used in many different situations.
Happy autumn!
Megan Lock
Advisory
Photo credit: Laurie Campbell