Roe Deer in the rain

 

The last few days the weather has been, frankly, dismal. Low cloud, drizzle and rain, no wind. The hills are hidden, the woods and meadows damp and dripping. Walks need to be brisk with few stops to look at flowers or wildlife as any pause or slowness brings out midges. Oh for a breeze or a gale to blow them away along with the clouds!

The best place to observe nature has been from inside the house and I've spent probably too much time (I do have books to write) watching birds, squirrels, rabbits, and, today, a roe deer in the garden. This doe has been around a few times today, wandering around grazing in the rain. She's a beautiful animal with a sleek coat the same colour as that of the red squirrels and that combination of delicacy and strength that typifies roe deer with her slim but powerful legs and long neck. 

The photos were all taken from my study window with my old Sony NEX 7 camera and new Sony 70-350mm lens. Given that they're taken through glass that I must admit isn't as clean as it could be I'm quite pleased with the results. Below is a crop from the top picture.

I'm checking the forecasts every day waiting to get back to the hills when I can see something (and take some needed photographs for a book) but until that happens I am enjoying the garden wildlife. Standing looking out of the window doesn't constitute exercise or work though. I really ought to be at the PC or out for a walk!

 

Beinn Bhan: Conservation - the good and the bad

 

Walking in the NW Highlands I'm always struck by the scarcity of trees. In the Cairngorms I'm used to walking through forests to the hills. In the NW this is rare, even though many walks start at sea level, unlike in the Cairngorms.

This lack of trees was especially noticeable on my recent camp and walk on Beinn Bhan in Applecross (see last post). Setting off from the River Kishorn just before it meets the sea I walked along a track through boggy ground with just two or three small willow and rowan trees poking through the heather. Once I started to climb there were no more trees, just heather, bog myrtle, bog asphodel, and coarse grasses. The reason was easy to see - there were deer tracks everywhere.  Now extensive woodland is unlikely on the blanket bog that makes up most of the ground below the summit ridge but the high numbers of deer ensures that overgrazing prevents even a scattering of trees appearing.

 

Climbing up to the ridge from my camp I looked up to see a herd of twenty-five or more deer watching me. Long before my sweaty ascent was over they'd moved away, just leaving fresh tracks and droppings in the mud. 

 

Near the end of my trip I could see woodland on the far side of the River Kishorn but on the slopes I was descending there was not even a bush. 

 

Other than overgrazing I saw no damage on Beinn Bhan. No bulldozed roads, no off-road vehicle tracks, no litter, no signs of anyone camping. I doubt anyone had ever camped where I did and I doubt anyone could find the spot once the flattened grass had sprung back. I'm not sure I could! The lack of human signs was pleasing. Even the summit was free of bits of litter stuffed between the stones of the low wind shelter.

The walking on the long summit ridge itself is easy and a relief after the bogs. The terrain is dry with areas of short grass and flat stones. It is a joy to walk along.

The view from the ridge is of sea and hills all around with little to mar the scene. Down in the glen the road to Lochcarron can be seen and to the south-west a communication mast is visible on the lower top of Sgurr a'Chaorachain. Only one thing really jarred - an ugly bulldozed road up a glen to the east.

Apart from the deer I saw little wildlife. Low down there were meadow pipits and a few wheatear. Higher up a raven called. Other than that the hill was quiet and still. 

Compared with many hills Beinn Bhan is unspoiled. Fewer deer would be good though.

 

Deer Working Group report calls for a reduction in deer numbers

Today the Scottish Government published the final report of the independent Deer Working Group, The management of wild deer in Scotland. It's a detailed 374 page document that I've only had time to skim through so far. There are 99 recommendations, of which the key one is probably the need for new legislation so that other recommendations can be implemented. I also picked out a few others:

"The Working Group recommends that the Scottish Government should ensure that the role of wild deer in increasing the risk of Lyme disease is given greater prominence in its policies for deer management in Scotland, and that greater priority is given to that risk in considering the need to reduce deer densities in locations across Scotland."

" The Working Group recommends that the Scottish Government should recognise much more fully than at present, the need for changes to the current statutory and non-statutory system for the management of wild deer in Scotland if the Scottish Forestry Strategy 2019-29 is to be implemented successfully."

"The Working Group recommends that the Cairngorms National Park Authority and Scottish Natural Heritage should have a much greater focus on the need to improve the management of wild deer in the Cairngorms National Park, to reduce deer densities in many parts of the Park to protect and enhance the Park’s biodiversity."

Scottish Environment LINK, whose own deer report I wrote about here, has welcomed the report.  Mike Daniels, Head of Land Management at the John Muir Trust, says "We welcome the courage and clarity of the report which confirms that Scotland’s existing deer management procedures and practices need major reform. If we were designing a new system of deer management today in the context of climate change, biodiversity loss and the depopulation of fragile rural areas it would bear little resemblance to the ‘traditional sporting estate’ model found in large parts of the Highlands.”

This is an important report whose recommendations should be implemented by the Scottish Government as soon as possible.

The need to reduce deer numbers in Scotland

Deer are not the problem. We are the problem.

That deer numbers in the Scottish hills are far too high to allow forest regeneration has been known for many decades. The extermination of predators followed by the rise of deer stalking as a leisure pursuit of the wealthy are the causes. Stalking estates require large numbers of deer for their clients. With no predators other than humans it’s up to us to control the deer population. And we’ve failed, with numbers of red deer rising steadily from an estimated 150,000 in 1959 to 400,000 today. In 1955 in his  West Highland Survey the great naturalist Frank Fraser Darling, then official adviser to the Deer Commission, wrote that the optimum number might be 64,000. In the same book he also wrote “The bald unpalatable fact is emphasized that the Highlands and Islands are largely a devastated terrain, and that any policy which ignores this fact cannot hope to achieve rehabilitation.” 

Overgrazing by red deer is one of the main causes, perhaps the main cause, of this.

Deer didn’t destroy the forests. We did that. But deer are preventing their return because of their numbers. This is no fault of the deer. Red deer are magnificent animals. I love seeing them. But I don’t love seeing the devasted land they create. In Scotland red deer are creatures of the open hills and empty glens, but only because the forests where they would naturally live have gone. A balance is needed. Deer and forests. Deer in forests. There’s currently only one way to achieve this, sadly. Kill more deer. Fencing out deer can let some areas regenerate but not that many. Squeezing the deer into smaller and smaller areas that become increasingly damaged cannot be the answer. Fences are expensive, unsightly, a barrier to access, and damaging to wildlife and habitats. Reintroducing wolves would be the ideal solution but I can’t see this happening for many years. In the meantime it’s up to us. I strongly dislike the idea of shooting deer but I can see no other answer.

This issue has come to the fore now because of a report, Managing Deer for Climate, Communities and Conservation, compiled by eighteen conservation and recreation organisations* and published by Scottish Environment LINK that calls for major changes to the way deer are managed. The report gives ten reasons why change is needed. Apart from more trees these include healthier peatlands (trampling and grazing dry the peat), more rural jobs (landowning environmental NGOs employ five times more FTE staff per square kilometre than the commercial deer stalking estate), fewer ticks (it’s highly likely the rise in tick numbers is connected to the rise in deer numbers), and a cut in greenhouse gases (a 20 per cent reduction in deer numbers would save the carbon equivalent of around 15 million car miles on Scotland’s roads each year).

*Badenoch & Strathspey Conservation Group, Butterfly Conservation Scotland, Cairngorms Campaign, Froglife, John Muir Trust, National Trust for Scotland, Nourish Scotland, Ramblers Scotland, RSPB Scotland, Scottish Badgers, Scottish Raptor Study Group, Scottish Wild Land Group, Scottish Wildlife Trust, Trees for Life, Woodland Trust Scotland. Plus support from non Link members Forest Policy Group, North Harris Trust, Reforesting Scotland.

I’m a member of seven of these groups, and a Trustee of the John Muir Trust.

Environmental groups respond to SNH deer management report

Many deer, no trees

Overgrazing by deer is a major problem in the Scottish Highlands. Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has just published a report on this. Here's what four conservation organisations have to say about it:

A coalition of environmental organisations have welcomed improvements in the functioning of deer management groups while warning that a step change is needed if climate and biodiversity targets are to be met.

The report suggests that there has been "significant progress" in deer management planning and evidence of improvements on the ground in reducing deer densities in some areas. The report, however also noted that three out of five key Scottish biodiversity targets are "unlikely to be delivered" because of high deer densities and that there has been "insufficient progress" in protecting and restoring native woodlands.

Duncan Orr-Ewing, Chair of LINK Deer Group said: "We welcome the report's findings that the majority of land managers are complying with the basic requirements of the Deer Code, and acknowledge the positive leadership of SNH within the constraints of a voluntary system.

"It's also clear from the report that much more needs to be done. Across our upland landscapes in particular, high deer impacts and other grazing pressures are damaging peatlands and halting woodland regeneration and expansion. These issues are closely connected to meeting the obligations of the Scottish Government's climate emergency and halting drastic biodiversity decline.

"We need a sense of urgency to protect and restore our woodlands and peatlands and that means tackling the destructive impact of our historical legacy of unsustainably high deer densities. We look forward to the more wide-ranging report from the independent Deer Working Group and would like to see SNH given greater powers and resources to drive forward the scale of the change required."

The SNH study was commissioned by the Scottish Government to report specifically on the progress of deer management groups between 2016 and 2019. Among other conclusions, it states: "Three of the five Scottish Biodiversity Strategy (SBS) Route map 2020 targets in which deer management has a role are unlikely to be delivered. The native woodland condition and restoration targets show insufficient progress and should be a priority for future focus."

A separate review into deer management in Scotland is expected to be delivered to the Scottish Government shortly by the independent Deer Working Group.

This statement is supported by the following members of the Scottish Environment LINK Deer Group:

*        John Muir Trust

*        RSPB Scotland

*        Scottish Wildlife Trust

*        Trees for Life