whilst out biking up at haldon (nr exeter ) I saw the above …twice on the same ride. Is this fairly common or a real rarity?

I think it's quite rare.

There was a bit of a fuss last yer about whether an estate should put a premium on shooting a white buck deer (can't remember the type), or whether they should have protected it.

The British Deer Society might be able to help you out though.

There are two stags in the Wyre forest that are albino, I have seen one of them twice or have I seen them both, not sure

I've seen one or two in Wentwood forest. Spotted a young one last week – thought it was a dog at first.

Up here in Scotland there a quite a few whitish looking red deer on the deer farms. Never seen any in the wild though

i like my deer to be rare… tastes better that way

are they albino? – or just white? – subtle but significant difference…

Seen a couple in the Chilterns, there's a couple of large herds (that need a bit of culling, really) and there a white stag and a doe amongst them

I've seen one once, up at the back of Dunkeld.

In medieval times they had mythical status because they were so rare. They are still rare now, but as there are no longer any natural predators for them, they tend to die of old age, or through stalking, rather than being eaten by a wolf because they stood out like a sore thumb.

There's quite a few of them in Richmond, Bushy and Hampton Court parks but obviously that's because they have no predators there who like a shiny white deer to chase.

Anyone ever wonder what all the "White Hart" pubs are named after?

they are an omen, avoid the gypsies curse! sign over all your possessions to me immediately!

Ive seen a few with like a funny single horn aswell. Look a bit daft if you ask me…

we have a few near us in the middle of the Sussex countryside. They were supposedly rare back in the day but apparently now they're introduced to a herd to enable the gamekeepers etc to keep better tabs – ie. easier to spot etc (and then shoot)

There's quite a few of them in Richmond, Bushy and Hampton Court parks but obviously that's because they have no predators there who like a shiny white deer to chase

[pedant] Deer have no natural predators anywhere in the UK which is why they have reached pest proportions [/pedant].
The numbers down south are probably kept manageable by the number of car strikes from sheer volume of traffic

The 'White Hart' pubs are named after King Richard II who had that emblem as his personal badge, which is why the ones on the pub signs tend to have a crown around their necks.

Richard II caused all inns & ale-houses to display signs bearing the arms and/or badges of the great nobles who's men drank in those places so that if you were a supporter of the Nevilles for instance, you knew not to go into an inn bearing the white cresents of the Percy family 🙂

That's why we have such pub signs as the Black/White bear, the Lions & suchlike.

If you kill it you have to get the drinks in.

Or is that only true on a pheasant shoot??

There used to be a white deer on the Quantocks 15 or so years ago, but the poachers got it 🙁

In Point Reyes, Marin County there are loads of them. An albino strain was bred for wealthy San Franciscans to hunt. Apparenty they were such poor shots, they brought the white ones in to give them a chance. Even then they bred so rapidly they became a pest.

Just like shooting sheep.

Depends wether you're talking red or fallow deer. fallow deer have natural colour variations from menil (white, but normal eyes etc, so not albino) through to melanistic, which are almost black.

Red deer have the odd albino as a natural genetic variation, which are indeed pretty rare

Unlikely to be albino. As Zulu says about colour variations.

A few months back I saw a white fallow deer. Several years previously in the same vicinity I had seen one. Like to think it was one and the same. Had my binoculars with me that time, watched the herd for quite a while and it definitely was not albino.

Talking of coats, the roe deer are looking gorgeous with their Summer one. 8)

rather than being eaten by a wolf because they stood out like a sore thumb.

I'm guessing albino deer would also fall foul of predators because of poor eyesight.

good work from scruff up there

silvery sheen ? think I've seen it too

There are apparantly 5 or 6 [fallow] here in the FoD according to the rangers. There was a well photographed white stag in the Brierley (nr Cinderford) area which was killed on the road 18 months or so ago.

As Zulu-eleven said most likely a Fallow deer of the menil persuasion.

If your interested BDS site info.

I saw a couple of adult white fallow deer in a herd of ~20 in a field adjacent to Wepham Woods near Worthing a few weeks ago. I assume a parent & it's previous years offspring.