Looking after the deer at Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal

Herds of deer at Fountains Abbey in the autumn — We look after three different species of deer here at Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal | © J Shepherd

The National Trust manages over 4,000 deer in 12 parks in the UK. This management is an essential part of the work in the parkland and countryside cared for by the National Trust. Deer parks are often ancient pasture-woodlands and landscapes of great ecological and historical importance. They are also an important resource for everyone to enjoy.

How many deer are there in Studley Royal Deer Park?

Before the deer start having their young numbers in Studley Royal Deer Park are held at around 300; 120 Red deer, 120 Fallow deer and 60 Sika deer. There is another herd of around 40 Red deer in the area known as Mackershaw.

How do you manage the herd size in Studley Royal and Mackershaw deer park?

Our primary aim in both Studley Royal and Mackershaw Deer Parks is to maintain the herd in a healthy condition. We monitor the deer regularly – ensuring their welfare is of the utmost importance to us. The management of the deer park is year-round, our work involves repairs to the historic perimeter wall and fence repairs, checking the herd for injury and monitoring their health, raising awareness during calving, annual culling and winter feeding.
Deer have been managed in this landscape for hundreds of years. There are many deer parks in the care of the National Trust and our aim is to keep the deer as wild as possible, with minimal management.

Learn how to tell the three species of deer apart

Red deer

The Red deer are the biggest in the deer park. They have rusty red coats in the summer (hence their name) but turn a dark shade of brown in the winter. They always have a pale rump patch and short tails. The Stags have much more branched antlers with multiple points and when they are growing they are covered with a grey fur we call velvet.

Fallow deer

The Fallow deer are the smallest of the 3 species. The Bucks (male) antlers are palmated (like the flat palm of a had) with small tines coming off called ‘spellers’. Their coats can differ in colour quite considerably across the herd but they are loosely grouped into 4 types: Common – tan/fawn colour, with white spotting on flanks and white rump patch outlined with black horseshoe shaped border. During the winter the coat fades to a general grey colour. Menil – paler colouration with white spots year-round and a caramel horseshoe shape on their rump. Melanistic – black, almost entirely black or chocolate coloured White – white to pale sandy-coloured turning increasingly white with age (this is a true colour and not albino, they are Leucistic). We are lucky enough to have good examples of all 4 in Studley Royal deer park. The fallow are the most timid of the 3 herds so, don’t be surprised if they don’t pose for you!

Sika deer in Studley Royal deer park | © Lowe and Gibson

Manchurian Sika deer

The Sika deer fit nicely in the middle, size wise. They are originally from Manchuria, a region in North East Asia. In the summer they have striking orange coats with white spots and in the winter turn a chocolate brown, they always have grey tummies and throats. Their rumps are white with a black horseshoe and stripe down the tail which they can puff up when they are alarmed! The Stags antlers are more like the red stags although they rarely have more than 4 points. Their velvet is also orange as the antlers are growing.

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Do you feed the deer?

The deer in Studley and Mackershaw are very lucky in that they have acres and acres of high quality grassland to munch on through the year, they also benefit from all the nut/seed bearing trees in the parkland. The Beech, Sweet Chestnut and Oak trees provide a large amount of additional food as their nuts fall to the ground in the autumn, this is great for the deer as they can gain a lot of weight before the summer starts. The deer can also be seen plucking leaves from the lower branches of trees to supplement their diets, this is why the trees all have uniformly flat bottoms to their canopies!

The ranger team supplementary feed the deer in the winter with fodder beet. This keeps tummies full, the deer happy and helps to lower the impacts grazing can have of grassland and trees when grass growth stops over the winter. Although we are looking to reduce the amount we feed through the winter, one of our main conservation aims in the parks is to manage our grassland.

Discover what goes on in the deer park throughout the year and learn how you can help us care for the deer.

Fawning Season in Studley Royal Deer Park | © Mark Clook

Spring - fawning season

The deer young usually start to appear in mid-late May but this can vary depending on the weather. In 2024 the first calf was not seen until the first of June! We do our best to care for the deer here at Studley but we need the help of you, our visitors to make sure they're kept safe, especially during the fawning season. When the deer are very little, they are left alone by their mothers in the safety of tall vegetation for cover. If you come across one and are concerned about the location of a young deer, please contact the estate and staff will be sent to check on it but it is normal to find young alone so please don't worry and remember to keep 30m distance. Please do not approach, handle, or let your dog near young deer as female deer will be able to smell your scent on her baby and it may cause her to abandon her young. Fun fact: The young of Red and Sika deer are called calves while the young of Fallow deer are called fawns.

Deers in tatters in Studley Royal Deer Park | © Mark Clook

Autumn - in tatters

When September arrives the male deer go through a stage of being 'in tatters', meaning the velvet that covers their antlers between March to September starts to peel off. The velvet is full of blood vessels to carry lots of nutrients to their fast growing antlers so it can look a little bloody when they shed but this is completely normal. There's no harm done and they're not in any pain, it just means that their antlers are fully grown. They'll soon be ready to take each other on in the rut.

Two deer going antler to antler in the annual rut — rutting season in Studley Royal Deer Park | © Mark Clook

Autumn - the rut

In October things start to get a little bit livelier in the deer park as the annual rut takes place. The rutting season is a special time of year to visit the deer park and we want everyone, both deer and people to stay safe. The stags are very powerful and for your own safety we'd recommend you stay 30 meters away and stick to the paved and mowed path where possible. If you’re taking a photograph of the deer don’t creep up on them or surround them. Stand in the open where you can be seen as doing this reduces the chance of the deer acting aggressively. We advise against wearing camouflage.

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The deer cull frequently asked questions

Studley Royal and Mackershaw Deer Parks are enclosed areas and to ensure the welfare of the deer, and to protect the nationally important parkland habitat, we have a responsibility to maintain a sustainable herd. This involves culling; without which deer numbers would rapidly exceed the carrying capacity of the park, compromising the health of the herd and the parkland habitat.

The British Deer Society fully endorse humane culling by rifle as best practice in culling deer as part of herd management. We conduct all operations in a safe and humane manner and we openly support the case for deer management, of which culling is only one aspect. Without any natural predators, like wolves, culling is essential to maintain a healthy herd size.

With any enclosed herd it is also important to manage the ratio between males and females – not doing so could cause unnatural levels of fighting for too few females. Sick and weak animals are culled so that the strongest deer will breed, contributing to the overall health of the herd.
The cull takes place when the weather and daylight promote safe working conditions for one week in September and then weekly between November – February. Culling does not normally happen on Fridays and never during the school holidays or at weekends. It is usually completed by 11am. Cull dates for 2025 are as follows:

Tuesday 7 January

Wednesday 8January

Tuesday 14January

Wednesday 15 January

Tuesday 21 January

Wednesday 22 January

Tuesday 28 January

Wednesday 29 January
The venison is currently sold to a number of local buyers as well as sold through our restaurant at the Visitor Centre. We follow strict post-mortem examination procedures and these help us to monitor the health of the herd as well as the quality of the product entering the food chain. Each animal is tagged and the tag remains with the animal throughout the process so the provenance of each and every deer can be traced. We can guarantee that the venison we sell is completely free from additives - we don’t feed deer antibiotics or growth hormones.
We advise all our visitors to keep a safe distance from the deer and keep dogs safely on leads at all times of the year, as the deer are wild animals. During autumn and winter when the cull is taking place we put out signage to ask people to stick to particular paths so that we can carry out culling safely. Culling is usually completed by 11am, Monday-Thursday. It does not usually take place on Fridays and never on weekends or during the school holidays.
Our team set times for culling and follows a strict procedure in accordance with our health and safety guidelines. We use spotters for tracking the herd and ensure we are conducting the cull in a safe zone. According to National Trust guidelines, all culled deer must be shot by a trained marksman using a high velocity rifle, and they must meet minimum standards of competence and be party to the Trust's deer management and firearms licences. Risk assessments are also carried out to ensure correct procedures are followed at all times.

How else can you help us?

We can all help to make sure the herd remains a healthy part of this ancient parkland.

Pick up litter

Litter left in the park can be very harmful to the deer when they are grazing, especially ring pull cans, metal screw top caps and broken glass. Dog mess (in bags or otherwise) is a growing issue in deer parks.

Keep your dog on a short lead

It’s not an uncommon event to find deer in the river with broken legs having fallen off the cliff faces after being chased or frightened by unleashed dogs. The deer are most vulnerable in June and July when they are calving. Even the best trained dog in the world has a natural instinct to hunt, and young calves can be attacked or killed.

Keep to the paths and look out for signs for closed areas

During the deer rut and annual cull, it’s important that visitors follow all signage in place, some of which will restrict access to certain areas – this is really important to help the team work safely.

Give the deer plenty of space

The rutting season is a special time of year to visit the deer park and we want everyone, both deer and people to stay safe. If you’re taking a photograph of the deer don’t creep up on them or surround them. Stand in the open where you can be seen as doing this reduces the chance of the deer acting aggressively. We advise against wearing camouflage.