due to the almost complete lack of interest at that time in recording the
distribution of mammals.
The early Essex records were presumably of isolated individuals although
one of them, that from near Gosfield, came from the area where one of the
earliest populations of muntjac deer was recorded in the Survey. It seems
unlikely, however, that muntjac deer were present for 20 years in the Gosfield
area without their presence becoming known. The origin of the breeding
population of muntjac in the Margaretting area, which has been there since the
late 1950s, also remains a mystery.
The most likely explanation for the recent spread of muntjac into Essex is
that they have come from Hertfordshire into the west of Essex. The first
recorded invasion of Essex by muntjac appears to have been from the general
direction of Bishop's Stortford, although there are no Hertfordshire records
(Clark, 1974) to support this idea. Muntjac deer tracks were seen in November
1965 adjacent to High Wood, Great Dunmow, which is only about 9 km from
the Essex-Hertfordshire border. By 1967 muntjac had spread south to Hatfield
Broad Oak and east to Stebbing and by 1969 they were present in the Gosfield,
Stisted and Coggeshall areas. The deer may be still increasing their range: a
single animal was seen 10 km to the south-east of the Coggeshall population, at
Messing-cum-Inworth, in 1975. The muntjac deer found in 1973 at Walton-on-
the-Naze, the most easterly part of the county, may have been an escapee. A
person who keeps muntjac deer captive in his Hertfordshire garden has been
known to take deer to his houseboat in Hamford Water which is adjacent to
Walton-on-the-Naze. Young male muntjac deer do, however, turn up in the
most unexpected places, such as the one in West Ham Park in 1965,
The spread of muntjac deer in Essex in the late 1960s and early 1970s
appears to be genuine and not an artefact of the Survey. During 1965-1966
numerous visits were paid to Latton Park and Mark Bushes at North Weald
Bassett and to Epping Forest but no evidence was found of muntjac deer. Had
muntjac been present, at least in appreciable numbers, it is very likely that they
would have been seen. Muntjac deer were first recorded from Epping Forest in
December 1967 and from the North Weald Bassett woods in 1968: in the latter
area they are now frequently seen. Although muntjac deer were recorded in
1959 at Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire, only 12 km west of the North Weald
Bassett woods, it was not until 1971 that they were recorded at Bonningtons
(TL4013) and Easneye (TL3813) just 5 km to the north-east (Clark, personal
communication). Presumably the urban development from Ware to Stanstead
Abbots proved a hindrance to a more rapid spread northwards of the deer from
Hertford Heath, and the Lea Valley urbanisation prevented their spread
eastwards into Essex. Once the animals had overcome the Ware-Stanstead
Abbots obstacle, they were free to spread into Essex to the west of Harlow. From
here the deer spread south to Epping Forest and east to the North Weald
Bassett woods. A muntjac deer was sighted between the two areas, on the
Copped Hall estate, in 1968. The muntjac killed at Chingford in 1970 had
probably travelled south from Epping Forest. This explanation appears more
plausible than the suggestion that the animal had travelled through the entire
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