Winter mortality in Red deer (<i>Cervus elaphus</i>)

Previous analysis has suggested that inter‐year variation in mortality of adult Red deer in Scotland is principally affected by summer weather conditions. Data collected over fourteen years on the Isle of Rhum (Inner Hebrides) show that mortality was negatively correlated with winter temperatures and positively with rainfall in late winter. In conjunction, these two factors accounted for 82% of the observed variation between years.