The male fallow deer is known as a buck, the female is a doe, and the young a fawn. They were first brought to Britain from the western Mediterranean during the Roman period, when they were kept within enclosures known as ‘vivaria’.

Much variation occurs in the coat colour of the species, with four main variants: common, menil, melanistic, and leucistic. They prefer to graze grasses although they will take trees and dwarf shrub shoots in autumn and winter.