The Distribution of Wild Deer in Scotland

Abstract

Following the compilation of lists of the deer populations in the Forestry Commission's areas in England and Wales in I938 and again in 1948 (Taylor, 1939, I948), a number of requests have been made for similar information concerning the State afforestations in Scotland. Accordingly, a survey has this year (I 949) been made by the Commission's Foresters locally in charge of the forests referred to in the appended list with the co-operation of Sir Henry Beresford-Peirse, the Commissioners' Director for Scotland, and the Conservators of Forests and Forest Officers concerned. I am indebted to the technical staff of all grades in Scotland, without whose willing help and interest the list now available could not have been prepared. While in no way intended to represent a record of the present distribution of the various species of deer to be found running wild in Scotland, the list gives an indication of the widespread areas over which the native red and roe deer occur, and of localities in which fallow deer and the exotic Japanese species are present. The small number of State forests to the south of the Highland Line in which no deer have been observed are omitted from the list. As would be expected the usual habitat of the red deer (Cervus elaphus) lies over the extensive mountain and moorland areas of the north and west where the species is often to be found in large numbers. Extensive herds of red deer are also present in parts of Aberdeenshire and in central Scotland, and again in one or two stations in the south, but in reading the survey in regard to red deer it must be borne in mind that the boundaries of some of the Commission's Highland and other forests in Scotland are deerfenced, and, although red deer may not be numerous within these fences, they frequently occur in large congregations over the open terrain round about. Deer fencing (61 ft.) has proved a satisfactory although, as might be expected, not a complete deterrent. It is, of course, impossible to tolerate red deer in any but the smallest of numbers on newly afforested ground, and among young growing plantations. If the industralized areas are excepted, roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) can be regarded almost as ubiquitous throughout the mainland of Scotland. The degree of stocking varies widely with local circumstances but, where covert exists, their numbers are frequently considerable. Roe deer populations tend to increase in almost all localities where extensive afforestations are carried out and, in excesssive numbers, roe can also -be very destructive to young plantations, both by browsing and by the use of young saplings as fraying stocks by the bucks in due season. In these circumstances it is obligatory to take measures to regulate local stockings, but it is safe to say that, given adequate covert in sufficient area, the extermination of this graceful little native deer is, in practice, a matter of impossibility if only on the ground of expense, and consequently it is nowhere attempted. Except where red deer are also present in the neighbourhood it is not the custom of the Commission to deer-fence their forests, consequently the roe have easy access to many areas, a fact that not infrequently leads to difficulties sooner or later because the roe is a rapid breeder, twin births being not at all uncommon. So far as the Forestry Commission's Scottish areas are concerned the only acclimatized species is the Japanese deer (Sika nippon). This deer occurs as far north as Loch Shin and, in small numbers, at two stations in Ross and Cromarty and two in Invernessshire; it also occurs in somewhat greater numbers in the Mull of Kintyre and again 'occasionally' on the borders of Fife and Clackmannanshire. Fallow deer (Dama dama) are present at several widely distributed stations but, with the exception of the Drummond Hill district of Perthshire, are nowhere reported to be strong in numbers. None of the further species which have become acclimatized in parts of England such as the Siberian roe (Capreolus pygargus) and the Chinese muntjac (Muntiacus reevesi) have been observed in or about the State forests in Scotland and no exotic species are reported other than Japanese deer (Sika nippon).