FALLOW DEER
One of the many things I miss about Lundy are the sika deer, so it was wonderful to find deer here on my doorstep. There is little information about deer on Kefalonia on the net, so I do not know if there are any other deer species here. We do have fallow deer, which are a medium sized deer standing about 900mm at the shoulder. Their coats are a yellowish-red with white spots, in the Summer and a more uniformly greyish-brown in the Winter. Fallow deer also have a white rump patch with a longish black tail. The males or bucks have palmate antlers (looking like a hand) and they shed them in early Summer.
If alarmed the deer will issue a short, loud bark and will also bounce on all 4 legs held straight. This is caller pronging or stotting and it tells the predator that the deer is fit and healthy and it would be difficult to catch. The rut is in October and fawns are born in late Summer the following year. Fallow deer will eat young shoots and tree bark, as well as saplings, fruit and acorns. They prefer open woodland and pasture but will happily graze a farmer’s crops. I have seen them on the wooded slopes in the mountains of Southeast Kefalonia.
