104 The Essex Naturalist
At Wake Arms tracks were abundant near the road edge. This is an area very
little visited, as the forest is divided into small wedges by the roads radiating
from the busy roundabout, and there are no rides or tracks down which it is
convenient to walk. There is access to agricultutal land outside the forest at
Stable Shaw, but this is 1000 m from the deer at Sunshine Plain, Deershelter
Plain and Jack's Hill. Thus some deer signs are beyond our 750 m line and is the
kind of area where deer should be found (according to the historical hypothesis).
Then we come to the counts for the Lower Forest. If the historical hypothesis
is correct, deer numbers should be lower than at Wake Arms, as it is more
visited than the Wake Arms area being closer to habitation. The official count
for the Lower Forest is 25 in 1996, and 11 for 1997. The keeper's estimate is
larger, but unfortunately not proven. This seems quite a large number for a small
area, larger perhaps than the historical hypothesis would predict. The deer are
mainly located on the extreme forest edge, however, which is an appropriate
place for them to be in terms of visitor disturbance as few people choose to cycle
or walk their dogs there. The key factor here is where they are feeding.
According to the historical hypothesis, they should be feeding solely in the
forest, but the evidence of the slots discussed in the behavioural hypothesis
fieldwork shows that this is not what is happening. They are crossing to the
fields on the west to feed, and returning in the early hours of the morning. A
point against the historical hypothesis.
Visitor numbers are next and the number visiting the Epping Information
Centre is pertinent to this enquiry. These are people who have come specifically
to see the forest and find out more about it. Very many more visit the forest in a
year including those who regularly use the forest for dogwalking, mountain
biking and horse riding. The evidence is that numbers of visitors to the forest is
increasing and the car park evidence supports the idea of greater visitor impact
to the south of the main forest. These facts which correlate with lower deer
numbers in the south are a point in favour of the historical hypothesis.
The forage nitrogen analysis is preliminary but suggests that nitrogen content
for the grass within the forest is well below that of the crops and grass in the
agricultutal fields which receive fertiliser. It is known that there is a real
deposition of nitrates on to the forest, for example, from M.25 traffic emissions.
However, it appears from initial measurements here that better grazing is
available outside the forest. "Deerlawns" within the forest are unlikely to be
sufficient in area and quality to support the deer population. A point against the
historical hypothesis.
The final piece of fieldwork for this hypothesis concerned coat colour.
Common fallow numbers far exceeded black fallow numbers in the bufferlands.
This does not agree with the historical idea that the large numbers of fallow on
the bufferlands are due to black coated 'forest' deer being pushed north. Two
black deer cannot produce a common fawn (Bignell, 1993). Two common deer
can produce a fawn of any colour. Thus how many of the black deer on the