The Country Diary column in the Guardian is usually a pleasant read. Yesterday it was about Blacka and a chance encounter with some of our magnificent red deer. The column is usually beautifully written and this one certainly is.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/the-northerner/2014/feb/25/my-red-deerstalker
But I think the figures on deer population ('200' altogether on the Eastern Moors) may be inaccurate and out of date. These were the sort of numbers being quoted by farmers some years ago and they are not a reliable source. The Eastern Moors Partnership figures as mentioned to me two years ago were that numbers had tended to stabilise at around 130 and there hadn't been evidence that they were growing significantly. It has to be said that I'm always sceptical about statistics when I don't know how rigorous the data collection has been. As we have learned recently on the subject of badgers in the South West, wildlife numbers are not easy to count when the individual animals move about so much and tend to hide up during the day. And I think that even goes for our largest wild animal. If they're counting them on Bigmoor how do they know whether the stags have just organised an outing to Blacka or vice versa? Double counting is also very easy. I've certainly got my own view on the numbers of residents that are stable here, but there are surges at some times which double or even treble that figure leading some people to cry for a cull.
Other bits from the article: the reason that deer on Blacka don't always flee as quickly as they might in parts of Scotland is the presence of trees here. Trees help them to feel comparatively secure.
And I'm not sure where the idea comes from that deer might impact badly on the woodland edge when the managers here plan to bring in cattle and themselves go crazed walkabout with chainsaws in just those places.
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