The distribution of the Oxlip Primula elatior (L.) Hill in Essex
+/- 792) plants per hectare. The original ground flora has been smothered by Rubus and Carex
spp., with the end result for the Oxlip not significantly different from that in woodland planted with
conifers for 27 years (911 plants per hectare). This must be a warning against resuming coppicing
without having first controlled the deer or considered the density and structure of the living trees on
the site.
What future for the Oxlip?
In 1975 Rackham said '...the conclusion is that we can either have Oxlips, or deer, but not both.'
Nothing in this survey contradicts that statement. The tragedy is that in the intervening 27 years
management practices have not changed sufficiently to safeguard plants such as the Oxlip; We may
have saved the woods but wc have not done the same for the plants they contain.
The problem for woodland managers with Oxlips is that the plants are amongst the first to come
into flower in the coppice, during March, April and May. This is just the time that Fallow and Roe
deer frequent woodlands more to search for the newly emerging herbs before the palatable grasses
and tree / shrub shoots emerge. So unless alternative and more palatable feed can be presented, or
really effective fencing systems developed, plants such as the Oxlip are at risk. Many sites surveyed
had rudimentary deer control activities in place, but this survey was not able to assess the efficiency
of these activities. A number of sites are using deer fencing as a part of these plans, but again it was
not possible to draw conclusions as to the effectiveness of the systems in place, but this is an
investigation that would well repay careful measurement. Fencing must include designs that
understand and take account of the behavioural requirements of the different deer species. No site
should be without a deer management plan. Wc arc beginning to understand the impact of differing
deer intensities on both the numbers of some plants and on coppice structure. We have to learn
more about the management techniques that will enable us to control deer numbers in both time
and place and thus protect those plant species we value most highly. A deer initiative supported by
committed land owners should offer a way forward.
We still know insufficient about how Oxlips spread from seed, other than the process appears very
slow. This at least is being researched at the moment, and the results may allow us to decide what
loss of inflorescences the Oxlips can tolerate without suffering a population decline and, further,
how they may recover in the absence of grazing. If we can relate a level of 'acceptable' damage to
deer activity scores, we have a rudimentary tool to underpin a deer control programme.
Now wc know where the Oxlips arc concentrated, and the differing damage levels in different
woods, our target should be to develop management plans for a number of the key sites. These will
then be monitored to assess the effectiveness of the regimes in stabilising the Oxlip populations.
One site that demands special treatment is the meadows at Great Bardfield. Oxlips should be
maintained on these historie sites using a dedicated species recovery programme.
The Oxlip, whilst in decline, is not yet as threatened as many other elements of our flora. We shall lose
the plant from a number of sites where the population is low and appropriate management is lacking.
When we understand more of how to mitigate the processes that are currently reducing Oxlip numbers,
it should be possible to halt the reduction in number's. However, the grand displays that once graced
our woods, and which were a result of traditional woodland practices, will remain only on selected
reserves that are able to continue these practices and which have full and effective deer control systems.
132
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 19 (2002)