PRESS RELEASE

21 December 2007

Seeing red in Cheshire this Christmas

Rudolph and his reindeer friends have been dominating the limelight for antlered animals in the run up to Christmas but now Cheshire Wildlife Trust is reminding nature lovers about a small but significant deer population much closer to home.

Cheshire is lucky to play host to wild red deer as the majority of the UK’s deer herd is found hundreds of miles away in Scotland, but a small herd of around 12 can be found in Macclesfield Forest and there are a few in the Peak District. Red deer can also be seen at Tatton Park and at Dunham Massey.

The fascinating but elusive creatures are the largest deer living in Britain and a walk through one of their Cheshire habitats to burn off the Christmas calories could result in a sighting of these powerful creatures or reveal some exciting traces of the animal such as footprints or bark that has been rubbed away.

And walkers who are lucky enough to spot a deer whilst out at this time of year should not be fooled by the thick grey coat that develops in winter – the foxy red fur fades in the winter and the grey fur gives extra warmth.

Wildlife gardening officer for Cheshire Wildlife Trust, Sue Tatman, says: “We are lucky to have a red deer population in Cheshire and when the stags have fully grown antlers each year they really are an impressive sight and worth looking out for.

“The herd in Macclesfield forest are quite hard to catch sight of but visitors to Tatton Park and Dunham Massey should have more luck, as the deer there are used to people.”

For more information about animal species in Cheshire and to find out more about the work of Cheshire Wildlife Trust please call 01948 820728.

Did you know…all about Red deer

• · Red deer are the largest deer living in Britain and stags (males) can grow up to 120cm at the shoulder and weigh anything from 60-130kg.
• Only stags have antlers and these grow in the spring and fall off every year.
• Antlers can weigh up to 6kg.
• Stags and hinds (females) live in separate herds for most of the year and only come together during mating season in the autumn.
• Young deer calves are sometimes killed by foxes or eagles but adult red deer have no predators apart from humans.
• When mating, stags become noisy and spend a lot of time sizing each other up but weaker stags walk away if too intimidated.
• The most successful stags mate with 15-20 hinds each season.

Ends