Choices

Seeing them through the mist standing by choice in the middle of a very large patch of thick bracken, with head down most of the time, it makes sense to believe that there is more to bracken as a habitat for deer than simply a great place to hide the young calves in summer. Deer are often to be found just so. Cattle are not often seen in the large patches of bracken or heather. When cattle have gone through the tall shrubby growth it has been to get to water or to a patch of grass where the wildlife trust has cleared all other vegetation to make a grazing area specially for the cows. In order to do this the cattle will rarely plough through unless there’s already a discernable route and this, as often as not, is a pre-formed deer track. Sadly once this happens the evidence of the deer track is gone and with it a chance to see the pattern of deer behaviour as distinct from that of the cattle. The cows roam over the paths eating the grass to either side while deer are just as happy, happier even, in the natural spaces inside heather and bracken stands. This is puzzling. Why would a deer not prefer to walk on paths? It must be easier going and less trouble even for as athletic an animal. But the number of times that you find deer on paths is very few indeed and the sightings of prints on the paths is nowhere near as many as one would expect to see. You have to conclude that there is a deep seated resistance to spending time on ground that’s associated with people (and dogs?). Interestingly having turned away from the hinds I saw a stag just visible in the middle of a large area of heather. This was not a pretty morning.



Today was much colder and the cows were in tall heather, but there is an explanation: the night had been the first genuinely cold one and they had gathered below the wall that sheltered them from the south-west wind. They were using the heather to give further insulation. Perhaps they had placed themselves in this spot knowing that they would be in a position to see the first sight of the grazier come to remove them to more hospitable quarters? ***



Deer had come up with an even better idea and I was not at all surprised to see them on the well sheltered east facing slopes ready to greet the sunrise (about 7.40 am.). Again they were using bracken as both a feeding ground and shelter from the cold.


This leads once again to the question what do cows do and what do deer do? Do the cattle in fact perform the conservation tasks claimed for them? When deer are obviously having an effect on the land why are cattle needed at all, even if you accept the management agenda and desired outcomes (which of course I do not)? Apart from scuffing up paths and ruining stream banks, the cattle spend a great deal of time grazing on land that is already grassy, the edges of paths and land prepared by managers to create grazing areas for them. They certainly do not set out to search within large heather stands for young birch and other saplings. Nor do they do that in bracken. Any time spent in these areas is when passing through to larger grassy areas. I’m wondering what SWT’s evaluation will come up with? It’s hard not to be sceptical. Will there be an independent assessment of the grazing? Pretty unlikely.



*** Some may wonder why the cattle are still there when SWT's many A4 notices all round the access points indicate that they will be removed in October. I had the temerity to ask this question of SWT last week and was told that they would not be removed until a gate had been repaired and that could not happen before this week. So why..... (contd., wearily, at some later date).