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The Essex Naturalist
occurring to the north of the M.25. This condition of isolation is ideal for
maintenance of a black herd of fallow deer within an otherwise fluidly dispersing
population of fallow deer of all colours.
Because of the near total barrier across the M.25 we reject the historical
hypothesis that the black deer are currently being pushed out of the forest by
increasing visitor pressure. We suggest that it is not the visitor numbers
themselves that are the problem, but rather where they are in the forest that
prevents the diurnal movement of the deer which is driven by the need for
shelter and passage to the best available food supply.
Future research and management
The flagship species aspect of the deer in Epping forest is really limited to the
deer within the 'Motorway box'. This is because of coat colour, the existence of
the wild population near to London and because of the location of the main
forest itself. There is a desperate shortage of information about the deer in this
area, including their abundance and current coat colour proportions. Langbein
(1996) proposes various methods to make this task of counting deer manageable.
Culling does not take place in the area but there are road casualties. The
population could be strengthened by deer from the enclosed sanctuary being
released elsewhere in the forest and on a planned basis to at least match the road
casualty figures. This re-introduction would have to be made with care.
Our work has identified the importance of the daily and seasonal movement
of the deer. There is very little detailed data on this. Radio tracking would be
particularly useful and could perhaps be done in conjunction with deer release.
Some more simple tagging might also produce movement data particularly north
of the M25. The feeding ecology of the deer, including food quality, is a major
area of further work since this is important in determining daily movements.
Further analysis of the historical hypothesis might come from the genetics of
coat colour (Smith 1980, Pemberton & Smith 1985) and estimates of the
relatedness of black and common deer to the forest population at the sanctuary
and the population at large in Essex or from Denmark.
In terms of management of the forest to encourage this flagship species this
could usefully focus on the deer's behavioural requirements for lying up, using
vegetation management to discourage visitors from going near the lying up
areas. The interface between the forest and the feeding grounds outside it need
very careful attention. Overall this may require extra scrub growth rather than
less. Being at the edge of the forest this makes it vulnerable to sites for car
parking which bring disturbance as well as reducing cover at the interface.
The M.25 is a major barrier. Although steps could be taken to encourage deer
to cross the existing bridges, it may be more constructive to treat the
populations as separated. Ironically the newly built motorway would allow the
historical ideal of the black fallow herd to perpetuate in the wild but managed