A shepherd is baffled by a young deer who thinks he’s a sheep – and has fallen in love with the head of the flock.
The red deer has been adopted by the woolly animals after taking a shine to a sheep called ‘Wendy Woodland’.
He grazes with the flock and even falls into position with the other sheep when they are moved on by their shepherd.
The lost buck is believed to have been separated from his own herd as they moved through the National Trust enclosure two weeks ago.
Shepherd Andrew Capell, of Dunwich Heath, Suffolk, fears the mixed-up deer will be “lost” when the flock move on in the summer.
He said: “I think what’s happened is that the main herd of deer have come through the field, jumped over the fence and then jumped out again and he’s not gone with them.
“He seems to have adopted the flock and stayed with them. The flock have taken to him really well.
“There’s a bit of a pecking order in the flock so he’s finding his place. He seems to be the bottom of the ladder – he does seem to miss the sheep if he’s too far away from them.
“He is always close by Wendy, she is the oldest and head of the flock, I think she’s taken her under his wing and she seems to have a soft spot for him.
“They are always moving around together and sniffing each other.”
The local National Trust team haven’t named the real-life Bambie as they don’t want to become too attached to it in case it does return to the wild.
Red deer are the fourth largest deer species in the world and inhabit most of Europe.
