Sika Deer on Lundy

Lundy's sheltered east coast from above the little harbour

Exotic residents of a remote island


The wonderful island of Lundy, a granite bastion three miles long and up to half a mile wide, lies nine miles off the coast of north Devon at the boundary of the Bristol channel and the Atlantic ocean. From here due westward it is open ocean until the east coast of the USA; in fact, sticking to the same latitude, you would reach the cold north tip of Newfoundland, ice bound for half the year. Lundy's stunningly beautiful and heavily sculpted west coast is testimony to the erosive power of those relentless Atlantic breakers.

In striking contrast, the island's east coast is more sheltered from wind and waves and consequently has much richer and taller vegetation and it's here that a small colony of shy and elusive Sika deer can, with luck, be found.

Sika deer (Cervus nippon) are native to eastern Asia and were first brought to England in the 1860's. Seven Japanese Sika were released on Lundy in 1927 and a small herd, periodically subdued by culling, has lived on its sheltered eastern cliffs ever since.

We stayed on the island for three days in September and saw the deer on a walk along the bottom path that skirts the steep slopes of East Sidelands.

Sika are able to forage amongst dense vegetation and eat a wide variety of plants. The bracken of late summer provides cover for the deer, which are wary of humans, their only predator on the island and often rest under cover during the day, feeding in the early morning, evening and at night.

As it was late morning when we came across this small herd of perhaps a dozen hinds, calves and prickets (year old males) high above us on the cliff slope, we considered ourselves very lucky.

There is a strong bond between hinds and their calves

Unlike most other deer species, Sika often retain their spots into adulthood, although there is much variation in colour and some individuals, particularly stags, are a rather dark, plain brown. There was no stag amongst this group, just a couple of prickets, or one year old stags, which have single pronged antlers.

Sika hind on the boulder strewn cliffs

The Lundy Sika are reported to run away and hide when disturbed but this herd seemed to tolerate our presence quite happily, inspecting us from a safe distance at first before carrying on feeding.

As with most wildlife encounters, keeping quiet and staying still or moving very slowly often pays off with some enjoyable behavioural observation and rewarding photographs.

Hind and her calf taking a good look at the photographer