personal communication). A few red deer were present in the late 1960s in the
woods at Bradfield St. George, Suffolk about 35 km north-east of the Bendysh
Woods. Nine hinds and calves were seen in the Suffolk woods on a number of
occasions in the summer of 1969 but appear to have moved away in the autumn
(Cranbrook & Payne, 1970a, b). The red deer were first recorded in the Bendysh
Woods in the following spring (May 1970) and they may have come from the
woods at Bradfield St. George. Red deer are present in Thetford Chase on the
Suffolk-Norfolk borders and in Dunwich Forest (TL47) in east Suffolk about 60
km north and 90 km north-east, respectively, from the Bendysh Woods
(Chapman & Chapman, 1973). From figures given by the Forestry Commission,
it appears that the number of red deer in the Bendysh Woods increased rapidly
in the early 1970s, most probably breeding there (Beale, 1974). It seems unlikely
that a substantial breeding herd of wild red deer was overlooked in the early
days of the Survey and that it moved en bloc to the Bendysh Woods. If it is
accepted that the red deer in Lubberhedges Wood in 1976 are part of the
Bendysh group, then this breeding population of red deer now range over a
distance of about 18 km from north-west of Braintree to just north of Saffron
Walden. It is somewhat surprising that the red deer do not appear to be present
in Rowney Wood at Debden, another Forestry Commission conifer plantation,
which is only 7 km south-west of the Bendysh Woods.
Fallow deer bucks are still frequently referred to as 'stags' and so records of
'stags' being seen are valueless unless a precise description of the animal is
available. Nevertheless, several confirmed records of red deer in Essex have
been received and at least five stags have been killed in the county from 1965 to
1976. Apart from the red deer hind seen at Great Yeldham in 1965 and the hind
seen in Hatfield Forest in 1966-1967, all the other records have been of male red
deer. The origins of these deer are unknown, some of them may be escapees
from zoos or deer parks. The red deer stag seen at Langford in 1965-1966 was
almost certainly an escapee judging from its marked tameness. The stag seen
near Southend-on-Sea in 1968-1969 may have been the same animal that spent
the winter of 1969-1970 at West Tilbury. There are conflicting reports on the
animal's behaviour. The Press reported that the deer was too wild to be caught
and that nobody could get near enough to photograph the animal but a
correspondent reported that a little girl used to feed bread to the deer, which
became quite tame and was often photographed. The other records of red deer
have all been from west Essex, apart from those seen in 1965 at Great Yeldham.
Some of the records may be of the same animal(s). Those from the Great
Dunmow-Hatfield Broad Oak area may be of the same deer as those shot at
Great Hallingbury. Therefore, it is impossible to provide a precise figure for the
number of deer recorded. Red deer stags are reported to wander widely
(Mathews, 1960) and the present records certainly support this view.
Roe Deer
There is little doubt that the roe deer in north Essex have come from
Suffolk. Roe deer were probably extinct in eighteenth century England with the
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