Kitchen Garden Forum

There was a long discussion on face book the other evening ,it was about our town and people who had spotted deer , the lady that had started it was out walking her dog at 6-30 a.m. on Thursday morning when a young deer ran across the road in front of her it jumped a high gate with ease and vanished into someone's garden I know the area well and it has open fields as well as a golf course but the conversation moved on and seems they have been spotted in most parts of the town I know they are down near our allotment but it's been kept quite by the few people who know to try and stop the two legged animals hunting them ,now this might not seem strange to most people on here but we are in the middle of what was called the industrial north but most of our industry has gone the smelly Brooks are cleaning up into rivers all though a bit small ,we have birds with different colours of feathers not long ago they were all black and if they flew they were called sheppies now we have robins and blue tits as well as others but alas no skylarks anymore is the sighting of deer happening in other towns

I see deer but on the common land and forested land above the town. The nearest to the town I have seen deer is about half a mile, between us and a nearby village. I wouldn't want to run into one (and they do run out into the road - no horn, no green cross code...)

Like every animal I suspect the deer are taking advantage of the change in the vitality of the area & finding what they need. They likely will be just checking out the new patch for predators & hiding spots currently, but your allotment could become the local last resort when times are really tough but the golf course by it design is the one that could be impacted first. Loads of time to get the site fenced.

We fortunately on our site have the farmer's hedgerow along 2 sides, council dumping area with 12' fencing on one other side & busy road on the last side so although they are around they can't get in.

Westi the golf course is at the other end of town from our allotments we already have an eight feet high fence all round the allotment

There's not hardly a day goes by, without seeing one breed of Deer, here.....That's thanks to Woburn Deer Park and the Deer escaping over the last hundred years...

Gardens on the outskirts of our village here and surrounding areas are plagued by muntjac deer. A local vineyard is particularly bothered by them at cropping time when they invade to eat the grapes and a woodland burial site a few miles away is plagued too. People who bury their relatives there find that within 24 hours all the floral tributes which have been left have been totally eaten. I have a friend who lives in an adjacent village who has had to totally abandon growing vegetables on her garden and many types of flowers because deer just completely eliminate them. The only plants she can grow safely are laurels and rhododendrons !

And of course they're a nightmare for drivers in country lanes at night with hedges, suddenly leaping out in front of you.