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British Sika deer are of Japanese origins, and apparently the Sika of the New Forest are descendants of a pair of Sika deer that escaped from the Beaulieu Estate in the early 1900s.
It is also believed that the Sika within the New Forest are some of the purest Sika Deer in the country in that they havent hybridised with Red Deer.
They are relatively few in number and stay in the southern half of the Forest, around the Brockenhurst area.
Hinds can be easily confused with roe deer because of their similar size and coat colour - a gingery-red in summer turning to a greyish-brown in the winter months. Stags tend to be a much darker brown, with a scruff of hair on the front of the neck. Sika's often have pale spots either side of a dark stripe running along the spine. When the spots fade in winter the line of darker hair remains. A white rump is also a distinguishing feature.
Sika stags have branched antlers typically with four points each side
It is also believed that the Sika within the New Forest are some of the purest Sika Deer in the country in that they havent hybridised with Red Deer.
They are relatively few in number and stay in the southern half of the Forest, around the Brockenhurst area.
Hinds can be easily confused with roe deer because of their similar size and coat colour - a gingery-red in summer turning to a greyish-brown in the winter months. Stags tend to be a much darker brown, with a scruff of hair on the front of the neck. Sika's often have pale spots either side of a dark stripe running along the spine. When the spots fade in winter the line of darker hair remains. A white rump is also a distinguishing feature.
Sika stags have branched antlers typically with four points each side
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