Roe deer have always been present at Knepp, albeit in small numbers. Their population remains small in the rewilding project but they contribute another mouthpiece to the grazing mix, adding to vegetation complexity. Unlike red deer and fallow deer they shyly keep to dense cover and are almost exclusively browsers, nibbling brambles, ivy, tree shoots and saplings.
Roe deer are native to Britain, having been here since before the Mesolithic period (6,000 to 10,000 years ago). Forest clearance and over-hunting led to their extinction in England by 1800 but they remained in wooded patches in Scotland. Several reintroductions during Victorian times, and their subsequent natural spread, aided by an increase in woodland and forest planting in the 20th century, has meant that roe deer are abundant in the UK today.