Newsletter 25 included a request for responses to Stuart Dean's article on deer fencing in the eastern Ochils. Here are a couple...
IN SCOTLAND, deer fencing has historically been used as a tool to manage deer. By controlling deer densities and movement, deer fencing has been particularly successful in enabling significant land use and habitat changes (such as establishing new woodland of all types) to be achieved within a relatively short time, allowing different land management objectives to co-exist within or between land holdings.
The purpose of a deer fence is to exclude deer from areas of either newly planted or existing woodland. A deer fence should be a temporary adjunct to establishing woodland. Ideally, the fence should be dismantled after the woodland is established (after 10 or 15 years) and beyond serious browsing damage. A fence, however, can impact other interests such as deer welfare, biodiversity, cultural heritage, access and landscape.
The Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) policy on deer fencing is to support the use of deer fencing only when no other reasonable alternative is appropriate.
The policy requires anyone contemplating FCS grand-aid for erecting a deer fence to protect woodland to justify their proposal. Any such proposal to plant new woodland protected by a deer fence is then subjected to scrutiny by formal consultees (Scottish Natural Heritage, Deer Commission Scotland, Historic Scotland and the local authority), as well as being placed on a public register for public scrutiny and comment. Non-statutory bodies such as the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, or indeed the Friends of the Ochils, regularly scrutinise and comment on forestry including any associated fencing proposals. The impact of the fence has to be properly considered and any issues raised by the consultation process will require to be addressed to the satisfaction of FCS staff.
Where access is seen as an issue, the woodland owner will normally be expected to make provision for including gates and stiles in the fence specification, to allow walkers easy access through the fenced area. Another important issue is the prevention of bird strike on fences, particularly woodland grouse, such as black grouse or capercallie. The effect of the fence on birds can be mitigated by siting the fence to reduce the chance of bird strike or by marking the fence in some way to make the fence more visible to birds. In some circumstances, the bird interest may be so important as to prevent the use of fencing. In such circumstances alternative methods of deer control will be necessary.
To reiterate, the decision to erect a deer fence is not taken lightly. The full range of options for controlling deer must be considered before fencing is approved as part of any FC grant-aided forestry scheme, and any such fencing must be designed to minimise its impact on deer welfare, nature conservation, landscape and recreation.
Operations manager
Perth and Argyll Conservancy