A description and account of deer counting by Brian Barton.

There are records of deer species and numbers in Ashridge going back over many years. In 1681 a Thomas Baskerville made a visit and he records a park for red deer and another for fallow. Peter Kalm visited the area in 1748 and noted that there were about 1000 deer on the estate and two visitors in 1903 reported that the park held herds of red, fallow and Sika deer as well as St Kilda sheep and Angora goats.

Prior to the sale of the estate in the 1920s the red and the fallow were sold. For the red this was reasonably successful and a number were taken to Richmond Park. However, before the fallow catch-up could be organised the deer park fences had deteriorated and many of the deer escaped to the surrounding countryside and formed the basis of the herd we have now. In 1928 the Agent for the Estate reported that there were about 100 red, 200 fallow and 20 sika and shortly afterwards the National Trust decided that the red should be eliminated, if possible, as they were thought to be a danger to the public. The remaining deer fencing was then thrown down and the fallow were allowed to go free. In 1938 it was reported that the red and the sika had gone but that the fallow had flourished.

Up until 1972 any counting of the fallow was carried out by estate staff but numbers were growing so control of the population was increasingly important and it was decided that an attempt would be made to carry out a more detailed deer count. To carry this out the estate was divided into two parts with the B4506 Northchurch – Ringshall road being the dividing line. The method adopted for the western side was for people to be lined out in a very long line east to west at the northern end and then to advance in a southerly direction counting deer as they went. The eastern area was tackled in a different way; for this the whole area was divided into smaller sections with reasonably easily defined boundaries. Helpers were divided into observers and walkers with the observers being ranged around the perimeter of the area being counted. The walkers advanced in line through the area and the counters counted the deer which passed between them and the observer on their right hand side. When one area was completed the whole army moved on to the next one.

The day of the count dawned with snow falling vigorously for the early morning start. The weather was truly appalling but in spite of this a tremendous number of people turned up. The poor weather conditions continued throughout the day but the count was completed though there were reports of some people wandering off towards Berkhamsted late in the afternoon.

The disadvantage of a count carried out in this way is that virtually every deer on the estate was disturbed and it took several days for the herd to settle down. Consequently all subsequent counts have been carried out differently. Now the whole estate is divided up into a number of distinct areas with reasonably easily defined boundaries. A team of counters, ranging from one individual to a group of four or five, goes into each of these areas on two successive Saturdays in March and, if conditions are right, the count starts at 6.00 am. The counters move through their area noting the number of deer seen and, if possible, their sex and age, the time at which they are seen and the direction in which they are moving. Subsequently, when all the reports have been gathered, an exercise is carried out to try to eliminate any double-counts and arrive at a figure for the deer population at that time. It is accepted that this can never be an accurate figure but because the same method has now been used for 35 years any trends which are observed should be valid.

It is remarkable that in some cases the same people have been counting the same area for nearly all this time. With this number of years completed the Ashridge Deer Count must be one of the longest running deer population surveys carried out in Great Britain.

If you are interested in being involved in the next deer count, carried out in March of each year, please contact the Ashridge Estate Office – details on the Contacts page.