The Distribution of Wild Deer in England and Wales

Abstract

OBSERVATION extending over the past twenty-five years forces the conclusion that in many parts of the country the population of deer at large in a wild state was considerably greater and more widespread in the early years of the present century than was generally recognized. Evidence has since been accumulating that numbers are tending to increase. Forest Officers in charge of the lands acquired by the Forestry Commission in England and Wales since the passing of the Forestry Act, 1919, which now extend to 568,700 acres, have had exceptional opportunities of noting the distribution of the various species of wild deer and their density on the ground. Inspections covering many thousands of acres of privately owned woodlands confirm the experience recorded and there are few of the more densely wooded districts in which deer of one kind or another are not present. The species native to Great Britain are the red deer (Cervus elaphus) and the roe deer (Capreolus capreolus). The status of the fallow deer (Dama dama) is not so clear, but it has unquestionably been resident in England for a long period, chiefly within the confines of deer parks, but at large elsewhere, as in New Forest and in the Forest of Dean until 1874, from times concerning which no precise information is available. Other species have been introduced into parks and enclosures in more recent years. Individual specimens of these have escaped from time to time and have established themselves as breeding species in those parts of the country in which the escapes have occurred and from which the deer have spread and found sanctuary. Japanese deer (Sika nippon), the Chinese muntj ac or barking deer (Muntiacus reevesi) and the Siberian roe (Capreolus pygargus) have been added to the wild fauna of Britain. All three, particularly the Japanese deer, are tending to increase their range and numbers. The Siberian roe and the Chinese muntjac appear at present to be the most strictly localized of the introduced species. It is possible that other exotic deer are at large in small numbers, but none is recorded as having acclimatized itself in or about the newly formed forests or the older Crown Woods. Deer are woodland animals and conditions to the south of the Scottish border appear to suit them well. The truly indigenous red deer (Cervus elaphus) has never been exterminated from West Somerset and Devon where it is still numerous. Wild red deer also occur on the eastern side of the Lake District of Cumberland, Westmorland and North Lancashire, in the New Forest and in a semi-wild state in Savernake Forest in Wiltshire. Where they are to be found at large in other parts of England and Wales they appear to be the