Are there sika in the thornhill area

Davie_M

Well-Known Member
Do you get sika deer in the Thornhill area sort of south ayrshire north dumfriesshire
 
Never heard of any quite so far west. There is a few on west side of 74.

Not really that far as the crow flies from top of summit over to thornhill but mainly open moorland/rough hill ground.
No doubt they could travel that in no time if they wanted too
 
Don't know about Thornhill but there were a few around Newton Stewart twenty years a go presume they are still there it's not so very far from Thornbill so its possible.
 
Are you certain it was a sika and not a fallow?
I witnessed a couple of L2 stalks not far from there, and know there are a significant amount of fallow close by.
I've never know of sika in that area though. . . .Saying that they are almost certainly on the move Westwards and its not beyond the realms that it could have been. I saw two sika hinds West of Glespin last year (just off the A70)
 
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Are you certain it was a sika and not a fallow?
I witnessed a couple of L2 stalks not far from there, and know there are a significant amount of fallow not far from there..
I've never know of sika in that area though. . . .Saying that they are almost certainly on the move Westwards and its not beyond the realms that it could have been. I saw two sika hinds West of Glespin last year.

Shot a couple near Newton Stewart over twenty years ago.
 
There are definitely Sika on that side of the 74 right out into Galloway.
I handled a stag that had been shot in the Dalveen Pass area a few years ago. It was a hybrid with all the appearances of both Red and Sika and I judged it to be about five years old. The guy who shot it said it was holding a group of hinds on the open hill. It made me wonder at that time how far the little Japanese phantoms had got. I got a wry smile when asking an FC ranger did they put any in the larder from Galloway and the answer was "No they are all Reds".
:?:
 
Not that I know of at Thornhill but the odd one will know doubt wander through from the East as reds West of there include hybrid traits unfortunately.
 
My guess would be probably, the Sika have moved and spread farther than some people think, not in huge numbers, but you'd be surprised.

M
 
Ive lived just west of Thornhill for the past 33 years and have never seen a sika or a red deer. There are red deer to the west of here though, above Moniaive. Masses of roe and ive stalked them for about 15 years.
 
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