Hello

Just wondering if any mammal experts out there would be able to identify the specific type of deer below, that I snapped on the shed in our back yard. First one we've ever seen here, bearing in mind West Bromwich is pretty urban!





I'm more of a bird expert than mammals and unfortunately an image search has not helped me...

Many thanks!

This post was last modified: 15-07-2010 06:59 PM by solarwind.

Muntjak

Wow. They've come a long way eh....

"Reeves's Muntjac has been introduced to England, with wild deer originating from escapes from Woburn Park around 1925.[1] Muntjac have expanded very rapidly, and are now present in most English counties south of the M62 and have also expanded their range into Wales. The British Deer Society coordinated a survey of wild deer in the UK between 2005 and 2007 and reported that muntjac deer had noticeably expanded their range since the previous census in 2000.[2] It is anticipated that muntjac may soon become the most numerous species of deer in England and may have also crossed the border into Scotland with a couple of specimens appearing in Northern Ireland in 2009; they have been spotted in the republic of Ireland in 2010, almost certainly having reached there with some human assistance."

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muntjac

I saw two along the A47 when I was up in Norfolk recently and another last weekend when I went to Bentley Wood on the Wiltshire border.

I was recently reading about the spread into East Anglia and the Midlands of the White Admiral butterfly for which an important requirement is lots of honeysuckle which is a food plant of the caterpiller - apparently the Muntjac (a non-nativer species) is a potential threat because of their increasing spread and that they like to browse on honeysuckle

You'd be surprised out how many family and friends advised me to call the RSPCA. I did try and explain that it is technically a wild animal and found it's way there of it's own accord. And seemed kind of happy where it was nibbling the shrubs!

Reeve's muntjac. There are about 15 small pockets of them now around the country.