A WILDLIFE enthusiast was treated to the rare sight of a white deer at a nature reserve near Poole.

Keen photographer Shazz Hooper was walking through heathland at Holton Lee, camera in hand, when she spotted the fawn only 20 metres away.

She took this stunning shot of the young sika deer as the sun began to set, with the light infusing the animal with an angelic glow to match its white fur.

“I’ve been to the area a few times now looking for the white deer. I’ve never come across one until now,” Shazz said.

“This little deer was so cute and it’s a gorgeous picture. I love to take pictures around sunset.”

Although uncommon, white deer have been occasionally spotted in the area by eagle-eyed wildlife enthusiasts.

The deer Shazz captured on camera could be the offspring of a magnificent white stag made famous by BBC Springwatch. Nicknamed Arney, the stag is part of a herd of around 150 sika deer that lives on RSPB’s Arne nature reserve.

White deer are not albinos but instead have a condition called leucism, which causes hair and skin to lose its natural colour.

Shazz said she spent nearly half an hour observing the deer at Holton Lee.

“There was a fence between us, but he wasn’t too far way. He didn’t run away when I took the picture. I’m hoping to go back and take some more, but you’re lucky to see a white deer,” she said.

White deer have played a part in Britain’s myths and legends for thousands of years.

To the ancient Celts, the white ‘hart’ (an archaic word for ‘stag’) was symbol of the otherworld, a sign that a taboo had been transgressed. Seeing a white hart meant some terrible evil or judgment was about to occur.

In Arthurian legend, the white stag was a sign it was time to embark on a quest. The hart was considered the one animal that could never be caught.

In Hungary, a white hart is believed to have led the country’s first residents to their homeland, while in France one story says anyone who killed a white hart was cursed with the pain of unrequited love.

In modern culture, the white stag features in both the Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter.