I've been taking my dog here for years and often seen Roe Deer on early morning - they always scarpered when they saw us..... But..... things have changed. I noticed a few months ago that the council had put up notices "Danger wild animals" and a picture of a Red Deer stag head. Today, I was walking along the field away from the castle when I noticed someone shouting to me across the field which when I walked over to him, was to warn me that the stag was ahead of me. Aparantly there have been incidents where people have been injured (not seriously I believe) which is a first as far as I know. The Roebuck appears to be completely unafraid of human visitors. Anyone else frequent this area.?
I live close to Hylton Castle mate and know the Dene and Bunny Hill, opposite, very well. The council put posts on Facebook a month or so ago about the male deer, it's gone for and hospitalised a few people and injured them pretty badly. Some were parents just watching their kids on the play park. Not the deers fault, I suppose its just acting on its instincts. But, I wouldn't get too close if you see it.
They said it was because the male was 'in season' and naturally aggressivein the mating season. Might have calmed down now but not worth the risk. Probably came down from Washington, fair few deer up that way.
They look like fallow deer, not roe. Roe are much smaller and not often sen in large herds. Whilst the "Rutting theory" may be true the deer we are talking about appears to be a "rogue" without fear of humans. I'm used to seeing them run away as soon as a human comes into their sight. This one is different and shows no inclination to run away at all.
Aye, these are fallow mate, they are a very timid dear like the Roe, but when it’s rutting season the stags will attack anything that moves near their territory. I had one run straight at me, but luckily there was a 6ft wire fence between us or I would of been mincemeat
Not only are they not endangered, a lot of people want a country wide cull as there is far to many deer for the land to deal with.
Spreading as well. I am in derbyshire and have never really seen them until a couple of year ago. Spotted them at the edge of the woods where I go with the dog. A neighbour helps with local wildlife projects and he didnt believe me at first but I got some photos a couple of weeks later. Thankfully not had any run ins with them, although I was stared down by a badger a couple of weeks ago, as dusk came in, and I was walking through a small copse. Big bugger anarl, just sat in the middle of the trail staring. I turned round walked back for a couple of mins before returning to find him gone - he won
