Phil Kelly said he got a ‘bit of a shock’ near the canalDeer spotted by canal in Bootle
A deer was spotted roaming around Bootle today. Phil Kelly, 47, was walking his dog on the Leeds Liverpool Canal near The New Strand Shopping Centre when he spotted the animal.
Phil, who owns The Phone Surgery shop on County Road, said it was a “bit of a shock” to see the deer and captured footage of the animal looking confused as it attempted to scale a high fence. He told the ECHO: “I walk to work on the canal when it’s not raining.
“I thought (the deer) was a dog at first so I grabbed my dog. It was by The Strand. It legged it past me and headed towards Litherland. It only looks young.”
The deer was on the Leeds Liverpool Canal(Image: Phil Kelly)
It is the second sighting of a deer in Sefton this month. On May 10, Crosby resident Joe Walsh, 39, shared footage of a roe deer running along the sand, between the half-buried human sculptures of Anthony Gormley’s Another Place.
Joe told the ECHO: “I’ve lived in this area all my life and I’ve never seen the deer on the beach before.
“I was just out walking with the baby, giving my wife some peace when I saw them. We usually get out early at the weekend and with it being a nice day I left about six to go to the beach, and it was toward the coastguard end we saw them.
“You do sometimes see the deer near the West Lancashire Golf Club. There’s a little woodland area where they usually are. You never see them on the beach, at least I never have.”
Roe deer are Britain’s most common native deer, being widespread across most of the country. They are a medium-sized type of deer with short antlers and no tail, and can be easily identified by their distinctive white patch on their bottom.
Roe deer became a regular sight in Sefton almost 20 years ago, and numbers have risen steadily ever since. Though they are naturally timid creatures, usually being concealed in woodland, they can sometimes be seen wandering out in the open when few people are around to disturb them.
The deer ‘legged it towards Litherland'(Image: Phil Kelly)
Warning signs from Broom’s Cross Road to the Coast Road at Ainsdale alert motorists to the possibility of deer rushing out into the roads.
Sefton councillor Neil Doolin, in a message to Waterloo and Seaforth residents in May last year, said: “I’ve been contacted by several residents concerned about the welfare of Roe Deer seen along Crosby Coastal Park in recent months. I’ve liaised with Green Sefton; please see below information that I hope local residents will find useful and allay some concerns.
“Green Sefton’s view is that being wild animals, deer will only stay around if the environment is suitable for them. Being secretive and highly mobile they have been moving up and down the coast in greater numbers for some years now, with an established population across Merseyside.
The deer on Crosby beach earlier this month(Image: Joe Walsh)
“Residents have little need to worry about the general welfare of the deer at Crosby, they will tend to avoid people and dogs. Though of course, as with any wild animal, we would encourage people to view from afar, not to feed them and keep dogs under control in their vicinity.
“On the downside, as numbers grow, the risk of collisions on roads, damage to woodland and prevalence of ticks is also increasing but at the moment this is small scale compared to other parts of the country where deer populations are much bigger.
“And of course there will always be a small proportion of people who will deliberately try to harm these animals.”