Deer in the Peak District and Its Urban Fringe Deer in the Peak District and Its Urban Fringe

Deer in the Peak District and its urban fringe Deer in the Peak District and its urban fringe Fallow Deer bucks at Chatsworth Park. Peter Wolstenholme Deer in the Peak District and its urban fringe Ian D Rotherham and Martin J Derbyshire tudies of British deer populations began in plantings of trees, both native and exotic, as dere- earnest with the problems of over-popula- lict and polluted lands are ‘restored’. Combined Stion of Red Deer Cervus elaphus in the High- with Highways Agency and other roadside plant- lands and Islands. However, in recent decades, ing schemes, the scene has been set to create a the issue of rapidly expanding populations of countrywide green network ideally suited to deer deer in Great Britain has received much attention. species. All the deer occurring in Britain, both The establishment of the Deer Initiative focused native and exotic, have benefited from this situa- concerns on matters such as road-traffic accidents tion, combined, of course, with the absence of any (RTAs) and problems of impacts on native habi- effective predators aside from the motorcar. This tats (e.g. Dolman et al. 2010) and on human health is the context for a regional study first reported in through associated disease. However, whilst the the 1990s (McCarthy et al. 1996). phenomenon of urban deer has been noted, this is The case study covers a core area of Sheffield generally only in passing. and the Peak District, but extends east beyond to In effect, there is a pincer movement as deer Doncaster and the Yorkshire lowlands, and north populations actively expand and colonise urban to the south Pennines and adjacent areas around centres, and as human settlements turn ‘green Barnsley, Huddersfield and Bradford. South- to grey’, with the countryside becoming increas- wards the survey extends to the Dukeries and ingly urbanised. Furthermore, the urban and often Sherwood parts of Nottinghamshire, and to north industrial heartlands have received a makeover in Derbyshire, too. Dr Derek Yalden of Manchester recent decades and the ‘grey and brown’ have been University very kindly supplied a considerable ‘greened’. The latter are often dominated by dense body of data on the western Peak District areas. 256 British Wildlife April 2012 April 2012 British Wildlife 257 Deer in the Peak District and its urban fringe Deer in the Peak District and its urban fringe The landscape in which the survey is set includes ness has been increased. However, it is notable major conurbations, but with substantial areas that there is still a lack of interest in these matters of ‘encapsulated countryside’ and open, National among key individuals and organisations, and Park environments. The region falls in altitude that, for example, funding even on a modest from around 500 metres in the west to about sea scale to continue any work has been elusive. The level in the east, over a distance of perhaps fifty original project partners considered that, with kilometres, running from high Pennine moorland the conference, the issues had been addressed and to lowland farming landscape of the Humber- resolved, and they moved on to pastures new. The head Levels. The background to the research was facts are very different, and the potential prob- described in earlier publications such as Rother- lems suggested as possibilities at the 1996 confer- ham (2002), McCarthy & Rotherham (1994), and ence have become realities. The situation for deer McCarthy et al. (1996). populations in recent decades is described below. In the core part of the study area, the situation is especially interesting because, at the start of the The 1970s and 1980s research, deer were restricted to very localised By the late 20th century, in the Sheffield area, and long-established former park herds of Fallow Deer the Peak District, wild deer were largely absent. Dama dama and Red Deer, a handful of extant There were long-standing feral populations of park herds, and some Roe Deer Capreolus capreo- Red Deer at Wharncliffe, to the north-east, and lus in the eastern periphery. Over a 20-year period, of melanistic Fallow at Stanton, in the west, but deer of four species have undergone remark- little else. The Goyt Valley, near Buxton, had a able changes in status across this wide area of growing population of Red Deer from a captive the northern English Midlands. Today, the Peak herd released in the early 1940s and monitored National Park has large herds of Red Deer on the in detail by Derek Yalden. To the south, the Sher- moors of both its western and its eastern flanks, a wood Forest area had established populations of well-established herd of Fallow in the south-east, Red, Fallow and Roe. The Wharncliffe Red Deer and even Roe Deer now increasingly recorded. occasionally made local news when individuals To the east, in the major industrial centres such moved down the River Don into the heart of Shef- as Sheffield, three species (including the exotic field. Tracks and droppings on small islands in the Muntjac Muntiacus reevesi but not Fallow) have River Don at Kelham Island Industrial Museum colonised the urban area, and both Roe and Munt- indicated regular activity; startled members of jac have been sighted almost into the city centre. the public also confirmed their presence. Roe Since the demise of all but a handful of ancient Deer were also known to be present in the east deer parks in the region, perhaps 300 to 400 years of the study area around Doncaster, and they ago, these large, herbivorous mammals have been were actively monitored by Colin Howes, then absent, and this changed situation represents a of Doncaster Museum. Where deer were found dramatic and perhaps unprecedented transforma- in numbers, in both urban-fringe and rural areas, tion. Furthermore, it is suggested that the next ten there were already problems of illegal poaching years will witness a further and major colonisation and persecution. Increasingly, however, records of by deer of the urban environment. deer began to come in from sources other than the In 1996, as part of a regional research project, local natural-history societies, formerly the lead- the culmination of several years’ work, a confer- ing and almost exclusive producers of regional ence was held called ‘Deer or the New Woodlands records. Indeed, the received wisdom from such – managing Deer in Community Forests and the bodies was that there were very few, if any, deer to Urban Fringe’. The event, and the modest publi- be recorded away from a very limited number of cation that accompanied it, were to a degree a traditional sites. This was at odds with an emerg- landmark achievement. In their own way, they ing picture from observers across the region, some helped to draw attention to the emerging issues of familiar with deer and others not. a largely neglected topic, that of deer moving into and around the green spaces of our major cities The 1990s and smaller towns. Since 1996, the issues raised Intensive research on regional deer populations have become more obvious and public aware- began at the Sheffield City Ecology Unit in the late 256 British Wildlife April 2012 April 2012 British Wildlife 257 Deer in the Peak District and its urban fringe Deer in the Peak District and its urban fringe shire Branch of the BDS. From the ensuing discussions, it was clear that deer were moving into the study area and even into the urban fringes, and it was decided to develop a public- ity campaign to raise aware- ness and so to gather records old and new. This confirmed that interesting changes were happening, and for an invasion ecologist this presented a unique opportunity to observe at first hand the long-term dynam- ics of recolonisation. Indeed, the more northerly cities such Red Deer stag and hinds at Chatsworth Park in the Peak District. as Bradford and Leeds already Peter Wolstenholme had well-established Roe Deer populations, and in Doncaster 1980s and early 1990s. Day-to-day operations their numbers were rising rapidly. It was decided of the Unit involved contacts with a diversity of to embark on a wide-ranging survey involving site people, including farmers, gamekeepers, foresters, work, but particularly to use media promotion to police officers, early-morning lorry drivers and obtain and collate sightings and records of deer others. It was through this informal network that from the public across the region. This intensive evidence of deer began to accumulate. Individual, effort over a four-year period generated around often anecdotal observations from these wide- 1,000 records across an area of about 70 × 50km. ranging sources raised the possibility of a dramatic As well as contemporary records, the survey was change in the fortunes of deer in the region. Excit- able to collate observations from as far back as the ingly, the core of the study area, which for perhaps 1960s and 1970s, to generate a unique archive of 300 years had been a desert for deer, was being sightings across the study area. recolonised. Interestingly too, this turning point in deer fortunes had been missed by local mammal- Today recorders, but was being observed by members of Red Deer the Hallamshire Branch of the British Deer Society The surveys have been ongoing since the intensive (BDS). However, because of the interest of many work of the mid-1990s. As such, this has become BDS members in deer-stalking, there was little the longest-running survey of its kind in the world. dialogue between them and the amateur natural- Uniquely, too, the study has involved the public ists. In fact, they had been refused membership across a wide area in sending in records and sight- of conservation advisory bodies such as the Peak ings over a period of 20 years.

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