The Essex Naturalist 113
1991 : Many deer seen in the Wintry Wood, Lower Forest. Also Copthall,
Galleyhill and Woodredon, spreading north.
1991-1995 : Bufferlands, Copthall, Galleyhill.
1995 : Wake Arms.
1996: Copthall/Galleyhill (48), Wintry Wood (25), 40-70 in Mam Forest,
south of the motorway. Most of these are north of Wake Arms.
1997 : Upshire, Horseshoe Hill, Galleyhill, Warlies Park, Spratt's hedgerow
(10 - 20), Rookery Wood (10 - 15), Long Street, Breach Barns,
Sandpit Plain (2-3), Sunshine Plain, Deershelter Plain, Broadstrood
Plain (2-3), St Thomas Quarter, Long Running, Wintry Wood (11),
Warren Wood (26), Conybury Wood (30), Stable Shaw Wood (8),
Woodredon, Long Running, Epping Thicks, Claypit Hill and there are
some within a 300 yard circle of Wake Arms roundabout. They were
hardly ever seen south of Wake Valley Pond, but after this year's cull,
some have been driven down.
Note: these figures are a rough guide only. A sighting of a deer in any
one particular place cannot be taken as evidence that deer are present
regularly. Roadkill statistics are not included in this table. These data
are summarized in Fig. 4. Sources : Addison, (1977), Annual Reports
Of The Superintendant (1991-1997), Bramble (1968), Buxton (1923),
Chapman (1977), Chapman & Chapman (1978), Langbein (1996),
Leutscher (1974), Perceval (1909), Mitchell (1991). Since 1991 the
counts represent deer on the bufferlands only.
The fallow deer year
January - Farmlands are often bare of crops. Deer tend to be found in hollows in
the forest, sheltering from the cold.
February - Deer still in the forest.