Anyone trying to understand Scotland’s deer problem need only travel between Perth and Braemar and see the herds of deer desperately seeking food and shelter in the snowy wilds.
This photo is taken close to the location where Brian Shackleton filmed masses of deer on the move a few years ago (see here).
There are still far too many deer on the nearby estates of Balmoral, Invercauld and Tulchan, and nearly 20 years of effort by Scottish Natural Heritage to persuade these estates to reduce deer numbers to levels appropriate for the habitat and the deer’s own welfare have failed (see here). This failure was well exposed in the Sunday Mail on 23 Feb and once again demonstrates the urgent need for legislative change to impose public control over deer management in the face of private neglect:
At the heart of the problem is a reliance on traditional methods of deer management on these estates which appear to have changed little over the last 100 years. This is illustrated in a video describing a recent day’s stalking at Balmoral (see here) which shows how the enjoyment of a sporting experience seems more important than effective management of the grazing pressure on the habitat.
Balmoral and its fellow estates in the South Grampian Deer Management Group need to learn how deer are controlled on Glenfeshie Estate, further west in the Cairngorms National Park. Sustained culling of deer, through many months, by night and day, is required to secure deer population levels appropriate to the available habitat. Otherwise no trees will regenerate on Balmoral and its neighbours as thousands of deer wander the snow covered hills desperately trying to avoid starvation.
What a height of nonsense,for gods sake go and learn about deer and their management,your making a right fool of yourself writing such ill informed rubbish.
What exactly Norman do you think is rubbish? Let’s have some informed debate……………….
There is no starvation the deer are fed hay and turnips or cobs.
The deer on Glen Feshie were slaughtered not culled to the determent of surrounding Estates, it was a bloody disgrace.
Norman, I think you can assume I know a bit about deer management, having helped in drafting the Deer (Scotland) Act 1996 and done a fair stint in shooting and dragging beasts off the hill.
You wouldn’t know it reading the nonsense you wrote,I have been stalking for over 40 years as mainly the management of deer herds, i wasn’t born into it although my grand uncles were stalkers and one a shepherd their father was a crofter and stalker, I think I have a fair knowledge of deer management.
You clown, red deer have moved to lower ground through the winter since time began – do your homework and stop trying to score cheap political points!
Steve, I am not quite sure what point you are trying to make? Parkswatch is dedicated to trying to promote debate – am I right in thinking you believe that red deer were never a woodland animal since you state that red deer “have moved to lower ground since time began”? If so, can I ask the basis for that? In other countries deer live in forests on the lower ground all year round and they can do this because there are far fewer of them and they don’t eat all the trees. Dave has done a lot of homework and its the high deer numbers in Glen Shee, Balmoral and the other estates around Caenlochan that have resulted in a Section 7 Control Agreement being in place there for c20 years, the longest in Scotland. Those very high numbers of deer have partly been able to survive because of recent winters with far less snow in the past but when there is snow, those deer start to starve. The Deer Working Group report explains most of this in great detail.
Those deer aren’t starving in any way, they’re behaving perfectly naturally doing something they do every year. Red deer will live in forest or open hill they adapt like most animals depending on their environment, Roe deer are exactly the same and it has nothing to do with numbers but Scotlands iconic hill deer are now shamefully treated as vermin. What’s happening on Feshie should be an affront to any sane person and don’t talk about management everything is flattened on sight irrespective of species/sex/seasons – they even flattened a herd of sheep recently because they were in the wrong place!
They are in the wrong place. Sheep are a Middle Eastern species. The human population was removed from large parts of the Highlands to make way for them.
They’re only treated like ‘vermin’ insofar as their numbers are deliberately kept so high, leading to completely unnatural levels of starvation. I have absolutely no idea what point you are trying to make, but woodland is by far their preferred habitat and any attempts to state otherwise is just ecological ignorance.
Quite right Glen Feshie was a blood bath no two ways about it a disgrace.
Steve, it is the Scottish Government’s own Deer Management Group, which included as an expert adviser the chair of the Association of Deer Management Groups, which has recommended that a committee of the Scottish Parliament should specially examine the situation in the Caenlochan area. So I am not the only one who is calling for political intervention to resolve the problems on Balmoral and the other five estates who form the Executive Steering Group of the South Grampian DMG and have responsibility for deer management in the Caenlochan area.
It is,if it is the Estates problem to solve not a political responsibility what was the Estates and what was SNH,s job was to collaborate on cull numbers and the carrying weight of the Estate. These large culls are ill thought out if a few hard winters appear a weakened herd could be wiped out leaving few to none left on any given Estate. Estates have been culling heavily under the collaboration of the SNH to the point that some estates are on the verge of being nonviable and no longer self sustaining,what on earth are they trying to do wipe out the iconic red deer ?
(S)nobs and Money !!!!!!!
To be fair the deer in the picture or the videos do not seem to look starved. Food supply is the major limiting factor on animal populations and predation generally keeps animals moving through the landscape, which in turn reduces concentrated grazing and browsing pressure in a small area. It’s been shown that deer have biological checks and balances on their fercundity depending on their density. Rory Putman wrote a Natural History Series book that provides a good summary of this. I think the key to large numbers of deer on estates is supplementary feeding and muirburn for enhanced deer grazing. Browsers, grazers, up-rooters, ring-barkers, peckers, pests and disease are, in effect, woodland managers and I think the natural native woodlands pine or deciduous would have been much more open and in some places, where grazing / browsing pressure was hard and perhaps the ground also poor, areas may have been lacking in tree cover altogether, at least temporarily. Areas without tree cover have value too.
Susan, you make a fair point about natural forest containing much open ground but, across most deer ranges there is an excessive amount of open ground in comparison to tiny pockets of woodland or scrub which survive in rocky areas or along burn and river sides. The problem is exacerbated by modern, intensive forestry plantations which provide too little open ground habitat for deer shelter and feeding. Glenfeshie Estate have demonstrated how to resolve this situation by reducing deer density to levels which permit both natural regeneration in areas where native forest is still present and by planting in watersheds which have lost their native tree cover. This is achieved without any need for fencing. The welfare issues have been thoroughly addressed by Duncan Halley and others who have compared carcass weights between Scotland and other European countries and between deer living on the open hill and in forest areas within Scotland. There is no doubt that carcass weights are depressed on the open hill due to a lack of shelter and feed. These issues can only be effectively addressed by providing more natural habitat for deer to live in, all through the year, especially woodland and scrub habitat. Supplementary feeding is not the answer, providing limited relief to a fraction of the deer population and exacerbating the impact of overgrazing on both woodland and montane habitats.
Perhpas it didnt come across well in my comment, I agree that the supplementary feeding and muirburn for deer IS most definitely at the root of the large numbers of Red Deer on the hill. Food availability, is the major limiting factor on animal populations, hence why the estates supplementary feed. It’s without doubt that Red Deer in areas with more natural tree cover, in Europe and New Zealand for example, are giants in comparison to ours. But these deer aren’t starving, theyre stunted, like upland birch trees.
It has always seemed “common-sensicle” to me that stopping supplementary feeding of deer is THE key, trees will regenerate but the deer remaining will manage the regeneration, especially regarding spacing. Tree planting by man, in a conservation sense, is just more vandalism and creates as many problems as it pretends to solve. Even when the trees grown on are from the local seed bank. Every square foot of Britain has its own unique ecology and nature knows best which species goes where. Regeneration preserves the local genetic biodiversity, does not introduce disease that local trees are not immune and its CHEAP. Sadly given Conservation has long since become an industry, eg NGOs, fund raising, grants, courses, regeneration doesn’t make people money and it doesn’t make for great PR photo ops of people planting trees. Conservationist feel the need to be in control and DOING something, and, its seems, to my observance, it’s usually the wrong thing.
“Areas without tree cover have value too.”
That’s a false dichotomy. More open native woodland is a world away from these completely barren hills, which are managed in a way to perpetuate the degradation. Food supply is of course a limiting factor, but natural depredation of weaker and older animals would have been a further check. This is complete abdication of duty and a national disgrace.
I agree with you to a large extent. Sorry I was not arguing a black and white picture at all and perhaps that didn’t come across.
Some areas of Scotland will surely remain barren, if left to their own devices and not planted, which can be good for some species. I want the native woodlands back, in our conservation areas particularly, sadly recent visits to Abernethy Forest both the RSPB owned and the Nature Reserve, were very disappointing, especially given the length of time they have been within the ownership of conservation organisations. I did a little reading to find the RSPCA had thought it a great idea to dynamite a whole 9 trees to create “natural” dead wood effect, I assume as if struck by lightening, when some determined efforts to deforest some of it, at least to selectively fell to different heights, to even ring bark some trees, would have been effective. It was very sad to see some ancient trees being smothered by stands, thinned to a small extent at some time, of plantation trees that I’m sure were inherited, but had been left to dominate. I think fundamental problems exist in conservation because Conservation is taught in the schools of Forestry and Agriculture and so they remain determinedly ignorant about Ecology.
Predation and even shooting of weak and sick animals wouldn’t really reduce deer numbers as those animals would be extremely unlikely to live long enough, or be chosen by the opposite sex, to breed. It might be argued by some that shooting these animals is a matter of animal welfare but, even as someone who believes in animal rights, I would argue, especially in a conservation area, they be left to die and fulfil their part in the ecological life cycle. I agree! This, and much else that goes on in the name of conservation, is abdication of duty and a disgrace, it’s a universal truism when they say, follow the money.
Wow – there is some ill-informed comments on here – and they’re not from Dave or nick!
Trying again to post comment as previous attempt unsuccessful.
The author could perhaps have contacted the South Grampian Deer Management Group to make sure he was properly informed of the facts before he went into print. The estates in this area have worked hard over successive seasons, working in conjunction with the responsible Scottish Government agency for deer, SNH, to deliver sustained reduction culls in the DMG area in challenging conditions. As well as now having an independent chairman in place, the DMG operates an Executive Steering Group which meets regularly to drive forward operational issues such as required deer culls, counts, development and delivery of Deer Management Plans etc. This group is comprised of a mix of estate members from across the whole DMG area and includes SNH. The DMG, as well as including private estate and farm operations, also has Scottish Government agency members including both SNH and Forestry & Land Scotland who own and manage land in the area. Following the completion of the red deer hind season earlier this month, a deer ground count was held early last week in ideal snow conditions. This again showed a very significant reduction in deer densities, continuing the reduction progress of recent seasons and taking the winter deer densities from above 20 per sq km in Jan 2018 to nearer 10 per sq km in Feb 2020. From season 2017-18 to the end of season 2019-20 the SGDMG have culled over 7000 deer (including stags, hinds and calves). These have all been culled by estate staff, at estate cost and the bulk of the cull undertaken through difficult winter conditions and in challenging terrain. These are the facts and reflect the harsh reality of deer management in Scotland. Reference is also made in above comments to the Deer Working Group Report. As a DMG we are still digesting the report and its considerable number of recommendations. However we do feel that it is regrettable that the DWG did not come and speak to the South Grampian Deer Management Group in order that they could understand the facts and history of the control agreements from those that were actually delivering them and also to be properly briefed on the progress that has been made in recent years, including the reduction cull progress mentioned above. Regarding a point raised in the above comments, for clarity it is our understanding that the ADMG Chair referred to in above comments actually stood down from the Deer Working Group in November last year before the Group reached any conclusions. If the author would like to engage properly with the SGDMG then we would of course be open to an approach.
I have replied to the DMG explaining that I was helping to organise a local community event yesterday and did not have time to see if there had been any further comments – including from others – until this morning.
Thanks for responding to us Nick, that is appreciated. I hope our update is useful.
The sooner lobby groups you come under legislative control, the better. It’s always the same; lots of words, lots of excuses, but you’re still absolutely beholden to your landed paymasters and not the greater good. The word ‘voluntary’ will soon be a thing of the past, as will feudalistic indifference.
It is good to see the South Grampian DMG joining this discussion. But, as regards facts, I think my information is reasonably up to date, having studied the DMG minutes and spoken with those directly involved. I agree that substantial progress has been made in culling operations but the deer population remains far too high in relation to habitat requirements. And it is the condition of the habitat which is crucial to determining whether cull levels are adequate, or not. The DMG minutes of 10 June 2019 (http://sgrampiandmg.deer-management.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/20190610-AGM-Minutes-FINAL.pdf) indicate that a draft habitat condition report for the Caenlochan area, prepared for SNH by consultants Strath Caudaidh Ltd, was due to be published. The importance of this report was stressed at the 10 June meeting – see item 4b in the minutes: “Strath Caulaidh Report…the Group still await publication of the full report by Strath Caulaidh, upon the survey work carried out in 2018…. DM [Doug McAdam] is liaising with SNH on aspects of the expected report and has asked about availability of data sets/mapping etc from the report. DM also provided the political background to the importance of publication of this report this summer.” Despite this “political background” and an earlier comment by the chairman about “the need to navigate a path through what could be a political minefield” (see item 1 in the minutes), this draft report still does not appear to have been made available by SNH, with no explanation for its non-publication. It will be very useful to see this report and compare it to information obtained in previous years, going back to the mid 1990s when I spent a day with the factor of Balmoral Estate (a South Grampian DMG member) looking at land use and public access issues on the estate. Once that draft Strath Caulaidh report is published I will be keen to meet with the South Grampian DMG so that we all have a sound factual basis for discussing how habitat improvement in the Caenlochan area can be achieved, to levels which secure the national and international standards for nature conservation which are expected in this part of the Cairngorms National Park.