The Essex Naturalist 101
Numbers of fallow deer in the Lower Forest were taken from the annual deer
counts performed by the Corporation of London in 1996 and 1997, and also
based on personal scrutiny of the forest. The count of fallow deer in the Lower
Forest in 1996 was 25, and in 1997 it was 11. When questioned as to the drop in
deer numbers, the keeper for the Lower Forest (Terry Stembridge) stated that he
did not believe the number of fallow had dropped, but that the decrease in
people counting that year led to an underestimate. His estimate of the number
of fallow currently in the Lower Forest is nearer 30, as more have been driven
there recently after the culling on the bufferlands. He bases his estimate on
sightings of the fallow laying up in hollows in the forest next to the B1393, and
showed me the slots in this area. There certainly were a very large number of
slots in and around the small stream at the extreme edge of the forest, but I was
unable to guess at how many deer may have made them. On this evidence we
estimate that there probably are about 30 deer but this is not proved.
Tertiary Evidence
Visitor Pressure
Examining the O/S map gives a fair idea of highly visited areas by the density of
car parks, rides, and facilities, but bus stops are not marked. For this study car
park use data was used to get an impression of visitor distribution. Visitor
numbers to the information centre were obtained.
The figures available are for car park usage for Bank Holiday Monday, 26th May,
1997 (Avery, 1997). The weather was hot and sunny, with a light breeze. The five
car parks studied are in the north-east of the forest. Their locations are as follows :
Car park 1 - A104, by Wake Valley Pond.
Car Park 2 - A121 near Dullsmead Hollow.
Car park 3 -B172, Oak Hill.
Car Park 4-B172, Jack's Hill.
Car park 5 - B172, Wormleyton Pits.
Car park 6 - Lodge Road.
Table 8 : Use of the northern forest car parks from 1030 to 1700 hours on 26/5/97