Plate VIII. Fallow deer, common and white varieties, at South Weald., 1969.
C. W. Hutchings.
her view, they bear no relation to the herds of deer originally in the park. Deer
from Quendon Park may also have contributed to the Hatfield Forest group of
fallow. A clear example of the influence of a deer park on the distribution of
wild deer is that at St. Osyth Priory. A deer park was established there in the
1960s and escapes soon led to the presence of fallow in the local woods from
which they were formerly absent.
The origins of the Mill Green, Roxwell and Strethall groups of fallow deer
are not so easily explained. Fallow were present in Langleys Park in 1950
although none is enclosed there now. Animals from this park may have been the
origin of the Roxwell group of fallow. Alternatively, this group of deer may be
an offshoot of the large Hatfield Forest Group. The Mill Green group of fallow
are probably best regarded as originating from Weald Park. Berry (1938) has
claimed that the Strethall group of fallow originated from a few animals that
escaped from Woodhall Park (TL3118) near Hertford when the wall was
breached in a storm in 1916. This park is about 22 km south-west of the centre
of the Strethall group of deer and there are few records of fallow between these
two areas (Clark, .1974). However, the absence of records may merely reflect the
absence of recorders. Strethall is only 8 km from Quendon Park and the deer
could easily have originated from that park. There were also closer parks
containing fallow in the latter half of the nineteenth century, namely Audley
End and Shortgrove.
Not all the former deer parks gave rise to populations of wild fallow.
Firstly, the presence of wild deer depends on whether all the animals were killed
when the park was disbanded or whether animals were allowed to escape. Parks
34