DEER: dawn vision after a hellish night in father's car

ELUSIVE and fleet of foot, deer can move like shadows through the densest forest or bound effortlessly away across the most treacherous moor.

But from the mighty Red deer to the tiny Muntjac, each of our six wild species still needs natural, unspoilt areas to flourish.

Red deer stags boast a shoulder height of about 48 inches, making them the biggest of Britain's remaining wild, land creatures.

The vast Scottish Highlands provide a stronghold for Red deer with an estimated population there of over 200,000.

Others can also be found scattered throughout England and Ireland.

Roe deer are far daintier in appearance.

Compared to the Red, the Roe male has flimsy antlers and stands almost two feet shorter.

With their prominent black noses and pretty eyes, Roe probably bear the closest resemblance to Walt Disney's famous 'Bambi' character.

Red and Roe are classed as Britain's two truly indigenous species.

This seems a bit unfair on Fallow deer which have been around for centuries and only miss out on this classification due to a historic blip. Fossil evidence has revealed that Fallow deer were actually native to this country before the last Ice Age, died out during it, but were then reintroduced from abroad.

Spotted and white-rumped, Fallow are not quite as large as Red deer but the antlers of their stags are broader, heavier and possibly even more impressive.

Sika deer, meanwhile, were introduced to this country from Japan about 140 years ago.

Looking like a smaller, more mottled version of the Red, the first Sika were actually held at London Zoo.

From there, offspring were sent to parks all over the country.

However, several animals escaped into the wild and bred, sometimes with native Red deer.

Muntjac deer are said to be the world's oldest species of deer, perhaps even prehistoric.

Introduced here from China about 100 years ago, they are also our smallest deer with a shoulder height of around 19 inches.

Despite their tiny size, their resilience has been remarkable.

So much so that Muntjac are now widespread.

Finally, also imported from China were Chinese Water deer.

These were once native to the banks of the Yangtze River but also first kept at London Zoo.

Nowhere near as successful in the wild as the Muntjac, less than 1,000 are said to roam free.

As with Muntjac, however, the males have curious tusk-like teeth which they use to defend themselves.

My own favourite image of a deer owes much to my late father's dubious sense of direction.

With five children and my mother crammed into the car, he managed to get lost in the Welsh mountains en route to our holiday resort.

When darkness fell, we stopped at a remote spot to try to get some sleep.

It was a hellish night but there was to be some compensation later.

As dawn broke, I peered out of the car to see a magnificent Fallow stag emerging through mist just 20 feet away.

He watched me.

I watched him.

Then he slunk off.

It was probably the most exciting moment of the whole trip.