Confident the second picture is it's mother.
Only Sika and Roe that I have ever seen in this area.
Sika coat
- Thread starter Hell Toupee
- Start date
Only Sika and Roe that I have ever seen in this area.
The ears don't look fallow-y.
Hill searcher
Well-Known Member
Sika still at Kincardine. Only ever see them at night. A group of 4 females 2 nights ago.
Only Fallow in the area I know of are at Portmore.
Definitely the closest known population to me, they don't seem to have spread far from Portmore still a few around the big house though.
All the hill ground of Portmore was sold of to forestry a few years back so I would imagine they have been hammered back.
There is alot of Fallow between Beattock and Lockerbie which isn't a huge distance away either.
Yes plenty to the West of Moffat. Used to stalk Fallow near Lockerbie back at the turn of the century. Alec has still got some left at Portmore then.
There certainly were some in that direction a few years ago, a mate of a mate had one on the wall.
I am right over on the East and we are just overrun with Roe. Sadly I don't have stalking here yet. Its pretty flat mind so not the best nor safest.
William Grant
Well-Known Member
I've stalked sika in the highlands and on stobbo in the borders. The sika in the borders have a different coat imo stags being black but shiny compared to the drab winter coat in the highlands. Definitely a different strain for sure.
Genetic testing has recently come back on the upper Tweed valley sika. The headline results:
1. They are EXTREMELY inbred. The genetic diversity is so low, it’s quite possible that they are all descended from a single stag.
2. They are 100% pure Japanese sika. No evidence at all of any introgression by mainland sika or red deer. It is possible therefore that they are the only completely pure Japanese sika in the British isles. This also means that some of the origin stories about the population are unlikely to be completely accurate.
1. They are EXTREMELY inbred. The genetic diversity is so low, it’s quite possible that they are all descended from a single stag.
2. They are 100% pure Japanese sika. No evidence at all of any introgression by mainland sika or red deer. It is possible therefore that they are the only completely pure Japanese sika in the British isles. This also means that some of the origin stories about the population are unlikely to be completely accurate.
wildfowler.250
Well-Known Member
Mixed views on the sika. Ideally they wouldn’t be here but they’re clearly here to stay.
If they are that in bred, you think it would be worth throwing some genetic diversity into the mix
If they are that in bred, you think it would be worth throwing some genetic diversity into the mix
Very interesting.
1. With such a low genetic diversity they could be any colour within the Sika range at anytime. (Rainbow warriors). After such a length of time genetics can be diluted if there were only say three stags in total that served the original hinds.
2. Definitely came direct to Dawyck from. Japan so that fits. The only introduction being the one stag from Kerama island (Japan) via Whipsnade.
This to me only shows that the information given to me by the family that introduced them is as accurate as you can get.
Yes there's always going to be that my friend. Interesting about these Sika as they seemed to have spurted off in all directions. A friend of mine (The late Ken McArthur) who had shot Sika from the New Forest to Sutherland told me of a Keeper near Castle Milk who rang him to say he'd shot a massive Roe. Ken went to look at it, a six point Sika stag, that was over forty years ago. I handled a stag for a Game dealer that had been holding hinds on the East side of the A76 below Sanquhar. That was an 8 point Hybrid, so one can only assume a flighty young Red hind from Galloway had come East a courting met her lothario and gone home thoroughly disgraced. I say this because it's the little aggressive Sika chaps that serve the Red hinds. Quite interesting to watch the rut when you have a mixture of species. I used to lay watching the Sika lads chasing off the big hybrid Reds in the Wicklow mountains and then serving the hinds some 30+ years ago. Never shot a pure Red in Wicklow, some weird looking stags among the hybrids though and just the odd one that looked more like a pure Red but wasn't. Don't know how they identified
.Ratel you have a fascinating insight into the history with your experience, you would be a good lad to have a long craic with.Yes there's always going to be that my friend. Interesting about these Sika as they seemed to have spurted off in all directions. A friend of mine (The late Ken McArthur) who had shot Sika from the New Forest to Sutherland told me of a Keeper near Castle Milk who rang him to say he'd shot a massive Roe. Ken went to look at it, a six point Sika stag, that was over forty years ago. I handled a stag for a Game dealer that had been holding hinds on the East side of the A76 below Sanquhar. That was an 8 point Hybrid, so one can only assume a flighty young Red hind from Galloway had come East a courting met her lothario and gone home thoroughly disgraced. I say this because it's the little aggressive Sika chaps that serve the Red hinds. Quite interesting to watch the rut when you have a mixture of species. I used to lay watching the Sika lads chasing off the big hybrid Reds in the Wicklow mountains and then serving the hinds some 30+ years ago. Never shot a pure Red in Wicklow, some weird looking stags among the hybrids though and just the odd one that looked more like a pure Red but wasn't. Don't know how they identified
Got a link then?
Not yet published - sequencing was only completed a few weeks ago.
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