The annual diet of the Fallow deer (Dama dama) in the New Forest, Hampshire, as determined by rumen content analysis

The diet of Fallow deer ( Dama dama L.) in the New Forest, Hampshire, was determined for the period November 1970 to March 1973 by analysing the rumen contents of 325 dead animals. Three main phases to the annual diet were recognized. From about March until September, grasses formed the principal food with herbs and broadleaf browse also of some importance. Acorns and mast were the characteristic food from September until about Christmas. Major winter foods included bramble, bilberry, grasses, Calluna , holly, ivy and browse from felled conifers. Fallow deer fed selectively; plants abundant in the New Forest which were seldom consumed included Erica tetralix, E. cinerea, Myricagale, Rhododendron ponticum, Ulex europea, Agrostis setacea, Deschampsia caespitosa, Motinia caerulea , most Juncaceae, Cyperaceae and Pteridium aquilinum.