ISLE OF WIGHT FAUNA: THE ELUSIVE – BUT SOMETIMES SEEN – ISLE OF WIGHT DEER

In the 2nd edition of Isle of Wight Fauna, Island Echo examines deer, which were once plentiful here but are now only occasional visitors – or do we have some wild deer living among us? Both red deer and roe deer are native to the Isle of Wight and have been present in numbers until modern times. Many will have heard of the legend of stag rock near Freshwater, reportedly named after an eponymous beast who leapt onto the rock to escape hounds. In Medieval times, there were 2 hunting forests on the Isle of Wight at Parkhurst and Borthwood. Both forests were used by the Crown and Lords of the Island for hunting  – the most prized quarry being deer. At that time, Parkhurst Forest was far more extensive than today, stretching from the west bank of the Medina to Newtown Creek. The northern boundary of the forest is marked by a bank and a ditch, believed to have been built to keep deer within the confines of the forest. In the east of the Isle of Wight, Borthwood Forest was far larger than present-day Borthwood Copse. It is believed that the place name Queen’s Bower derives from a hunting lodge used by the wealthy and powerful Isabella de Fortibus – considered Queen of the Isle of Wight in the 13th century. Charles I built a hunting lodge in Watchingwell Park at the site of what is now Great Park Farmhouse. In 1650, the park was said to contain ‘nine score (180) deer’.

John Speed’s 1611 map of the Isle of Wight shows further deer parks at Wootton and in St Lawrence in the Undercliff. Documentary evidence also exists for deer parks in Shalfleet, Kingston and Knighton. In the 17th century, Sir John Oglander had a resident stag that had taken up residence on his Rowborough estate after swimming across to the Island to escape huntsmen. Every year, the stag would disappear during the mating season (rut), and Sir John believed his solitary resident stag swam to the mainland in search of does at that time of the year. It is not known for certain when wild deer disappeared from the Isle of Wight. However, Parkhurst Forest was enclosed as late as 1812. It is thought that the Island has been farmed too intensively and the remaining woodland has become too fragmented to support a significant population of wild deer over the past 2 centuries.

But deer are very strong swimmers, and there are substantial populations of red, roe, fallow, muntjac and sika deer currently living in the New Forest. These deer keep coming on vacation to the Island. It has been speculated that some may even have put down roots here and raised their young. There have been regular reports of wild deer being spotted swimming across the Solent, being washed up on beaches or seen in the Isle of Wight countryside in the present century. In 2018, a 3-year-old roe buck came ashore in Southsea, having swam across the Solent from the Isle of Wight. The young roe deer sadly died after being lassoed by a member of the public. In 2020, a driver narrowly avoided hitting a wild deer at night on The Downs Road. In 2021, a young muntjac deer was rescued off Cowes by the RNLI. It was believed to have swum across the Solent from the New Forest, where there is a resident population. In 2022, 2 further muntjac deer – a male and a female – were sadly found deceased off Fort Victoria near Yarmouth. Again, it is believed they had made the journey from the New Forest (only 1.5km away).

Sightings have been claimed for wild red, roe, fallow, muntjac and sika deer on the Island over the past decade. The diminutive muntjacs have been the most frequently reported. But not everyone is enthralled by the idea of deer re-establishing themselves on the Isle of Wight after a couple of centuries absence. In 2014, the Isle of Wight Biodiversity Partnership issued the following statement:

“The impacts of deer upon woodlands are well documented. “Sustained heavy grazing pressure will lead to a suppression of the herbaceous woodland flora, a severe reduction in natural regeneration of woody species and significant damage to some canopy and understorey species. “Anything other than light grazing pressure will result in a modification of the woodland ecology, which is likely to have impacts upon a whole range of woodland dependent flora and fauna. ““English Nature consider deer damage the single biggest issue in lowland woodlands.”

Would you like to see deer return to the Island after a couple of centuries? Have you seen deer in nature on the Isle of Wight other than at the deer farm (near Newport)? Let us know in the comments…