The Essex Naturalist
93
Table 1: Nitrogen analysis of grazing material in the forest and bufferlands
Visual Assessment
Coat colour of the deer on the bufferlands was recorded. This was indicative of
whether black deer were moving to the bufferlands, or whether black deer were
simply dying out in the forest. Nine evening watches were organised. The
earliest of these was in May, the latest in July. The route taken was the same
each time to try to identify where groups were naturally located (rather than
where they had retreated to after observing the car). The route was as follows:
The Forest Way to Woodredon Bridge, Oxleys Wood, Fernhall Lane, Long
street, Rookery Wood, Copped Hall, The White House, Little Rookery Wood,
Spratt's Hedgerow and Copped Hall Park. Numbers and colours of all deer seen
were recorded. If there was any doubt as to whether a deer had already been
counted during the duration of an evening's watch, then that deer sighting was
disregarded. It should be noted that during the period of the watches, deer were
associating in small groups only; fawns were dropped in June.
Table 2: Fallow sightings between 13/5/97 to 1/7/97 in northern bufferlands