The sika is here to stay

Only two of the six deer species that may be found wild in Britain are actually native to these shores. Of the remaining four it is the sika that, genetically speaking, is both the most confused and the most confusing.

Naturally distributed from southern Siberia through the Korean peninsula and Manchuria to north Vietnam, Taiwan and Japan, up to 13 subspecies have been recognised.

However, across the Asian mainland these are so ill defined and blurred about the edges that it is now generally accepted that there are only two basic races: the larger , or Manchurian, and the smaller , or Japanese sika. While both have been introduced to