Ecologists deploy drones at Ashdown Forest to monitor deer population

By Sam Pole
Published 27th Jan 2023, 08:49 BST
Wildlife experts are using drones to count the deer population of the Ashdown Forest.Wildlife experts are using drones to count the deer population of the Ashdown Forest.
Wildlife experts are using drones to count the deer population of the Ashdown Forest.
Wildlife experts are using drones to count the deer population of the Ashdown Forest.

The information will be used to help manage the numbers of fallow deer, a non-native species that can "completely change the biodiversity" of an area if left unchecked.

Ten years ago the population grew so high that deer were involved in hundreds of road accidents.

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Ashdown Forest deer officer Glen Poland said: "They're a herd species so we do tend to see a lot more of them from numbers ranging from 20 to even 100 deer in one herd."

"You can imagine them going through a woodblock, not being pressured in staying there. They're just going to completely change the biodiversity."

Wildlife consultant Ben Harrower said: "We record the species, the age class - if we can tell from the imagery - and the sex of the deer. Then it creates this distribution and density map of the deer across the forest."