Landscape scale deer dung count – Nevis

We are currently setting up a landscape scale woodland deer survey to assess wild deer distribution and abundance in the vicinity of Glencoe and Ben Nevis.  The work involves sampling multiple forest blocks to establish how they rank in terms of deer densities.  The outputs of the survey will include deer population models and these will be used to set woodland deer culls, designed to reduce then maintain browsing impacts at an acceptable level on re-stocking sites.  Part of the area was surveyed previously so we will also be able to detect change in deer density over time.  It is a very large area to be survey, and the work is physically demanding, but the results should be very useful to the client. The survey work is based on the methods we developed in the early 2000’s, as described in Forestry Commission FC Bulletin 128 “ Estimating deer abundance in woodlands: the combination plot technique ”.