Natural History

Posted in wild dogs, wildlife | Tagged white-tailed deer | 11 Comments

11 Responses

1. on January 30, 2013 at 9:47 pm Gina

   Deer are such beautiful and graceful animals.

   
   
2. on January 31, 2013 at 6:53 am chervilmeadow

   The woodland immediately surrounding our house here in the chilterns contains three of our resident species of deer: fallow, roe and muntjac. The latter, a typically two foot high immigrant from asia has only been a wild species in the south of England since it escaped from the Duke of Bedford’s park about a hundred years ago. However it has now become the commonest deer in this part of the country, mainly because its small size and tiny rear facing antlers allow it to get easily through suburbia’s ubiquitous hedgerows, it is rarely hunted and breeds all year round, solitary except when escorting its single baby, it eats a lot of things others animal spurn because of toxicity, such as yew and ivy. It is also called the “barking deer” because of the loud doggy sound it makes when contacting potential mates. The main disadvantage to the environment is its liking for too much of the undergrowth. A visit to the deer free Isle of Wight situated off our southern shoreline reveals how lush thing would be without deer. Are they also eating up America in a similar way and in which case since youare all reportedly armed to the teeth are you able tol safely deal with a surplus of deer over there better than us ‘bambi’ loving British?

   
   
   • on January 31, 2013 at 6:55 am retrieverman

     The fallow deer isn’t native either, but it was introduced by either the Romans or the Normans.

     
     
   • on January 31, 2013 at 5:03 pm massugu

     Yes the deer overbrowse our terrain–they are particularly destructive of tree seedlings, thus our native stands of oaks are not regenerating..

     As for being armed to the teeth–some of us are, most aren’t, but in any event, hunting is not allowed near to residential areas. And, since, like our British cousins, we’ve eliminated the natural apex predators from our environment, the only controls we have are man-made. One can hope that as the Eastern Coyote population stabilizes, they’ll have some effect on the rising deer population. One doe w/ a fawn is picturesque, herds of two dozen or more, not so much.

     
     
   • on February 1, 2013 at 7:33 am bearcoatpei

     I live in the North of England in an old coal mining area. I’m a mile out of the town centre on a busy road, but there’s public land turned over to a regional park/green corridor behind the houses. The roe deer are doing rather well and spotted all over the land surrounding town. Some are a little too tame and unconcerned by people, dogs or traffic – someone even talks of hand feeding them from their back yard (I hate that – they’re wildlife not pets and you are risking their lives by habituating them for your own self gratification). I’ve seen them when out with the dog multiple times over about 5 years and often within about 20 feet or less. I’m surprised they’ve not ended up savaged by dogs, shot as venison or roadkill.

     We have muntjac up here too that have introduced themselves. Much shyer, but I’ve seen the odd one a few times in the undergrowth. They’re more welcome than the ex fur farm mink, that’s for sure.

     
     
3. on November 1, 2013 at 4:40 am Tim Brayford

   For the past 20 years or more deer have been living and breeding in the wild on the Isle of Wight.

   Red and Roe deer are native to the area and occurred there naturally after the end of the last Ice Age.

   When deer are present at low density such as they are on the Isle of Wight their light browsing and grazing has been shown to increase biodiversity and assist in preventing valuable woodland edge habitats reverting to scrub, whilst their droppings provide an environment for coprophagous invertebrates which bats such as the Greater Horseshoe feed on.

   
   
   • on November 1, 2013 at 5:50 am retrieverman

     Not on the mainland US though, where it’s obvious that white-tailed deer are overpopulated and destroying forest biodiversity– and the literature is copious on this simple fact.

     The Isle of Wight is a small island, and whatever has been found there simply is not representative of what’s actually happening elsewhere.

     
     
4. on November 1, 2013 at 9:44 pm cher

   The rarer any type of wildlife is, the easier it is to love.

   One hippo in a US river would be a tourist attraction, 20 hippos in a river would be a danger, a thousand hippos roaming US rivers would be an river invasion.

   A thousand feral cats in the woods near you is the end of a natural balance. But if a disease were to kill all but a hundred cats in the world, then one in your local woods would be a “rare sighting”. And if cats were declared extinct, then glimpsing one would be a Bigfoot Moment.

   Same with deer. I love to watch them trot. Do other types of deer prance so pretty? But too many deer can ruin the countryside. They can destroy wildlands.

   
   
5. on November 5, 2013 at 2:57 am Tim Brayford

   Scientific research shows that deer at low density of 3 – 7 /km2 of woodland increases biodiversity and having no deer at all or deer at high density decreases biodiversity. A deer population of of 100 / km2 of woodland is very damaging to the understorey. In lowland woods the threshold at which natural regeneration starts to be effected is 14/km2.

   Within England our native species appear not to be causing the damage that the introduced Sika (Arne Peninsular) Fallow (Ashdown Forest) and Muntjac (listed as an invasive alien species, Wildlife & Countryside Act).

   To summarise whether deer are beneficial or detrimental to a local environment is population density and species dependent and you can have too few as well as too many.

   
   
6. on January 31, 2014 at 3:16 am Tim

   The Forestry Commission have recently clarified a misleading impression that they may have given about the Isle of Wight having a deer free status.

   To quote Simon Hodgson, CEO, Forest Enterprise England :-

   ” This is of course a relative term which compares the minimal deer numbers on the Isle of Wight with significant populations on the mainland”.

   Unfortunately this has previously led to many people erroneously believing that there are no deer on the island and it would be more correct to say that woodland biodiversity on the Isle of Wight benefits from the presence of a low density wild deer population

   
   
7. on September 1, 2014 at 1:30 pm timbrayford

   A growing number of people are showing an interest in the Isle of Wight’s wild deer population so I have set up a wordpress blog site and a flickr album to help to keep everyone informed.
   http://timbrayford.wordpress.com/.
   https://www.flickr.com/photos/121124273@N04/sets/
   Please feel free to view, contribute and share.
   Best wishes,

   Tim

   
   

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