Père David’s deer (Elaphurus davidianus) by Bob Phillips, Woburn Abbey 28 August 2018
Sika deer (Cervus nippon) by Bob Phillips, Woburn Abbey 28 August 2018
We met at Woburn Church car park at 7 pm on a warm late summer evening, dry with some sunshine. 30 members on the 2.5 mile walk to see deer, trees and water fowl.
We carefully kept to nominated foot paths, passing the sign showing deer casualties from traffic going through the park (2017 12 deaths, 2018 12 deaths so far with 4 months to go). There were signs warning of ticks and consequent Lyme disease on entry to park (Colin wore long red socks to prevent this).
The first part of the walk was through an arboretum with Lime, Oak, Cedar, Hornbeam, Scots Pine and Redwoods. The height of tall Lime tree near the path was estimated at 87 foot, and Redwood at 134 foot using triangulation and measured paces method.
The second part of the walk was at the entrance to the grassland area of the grounds where we were able to see 10 Red Deer stags (antlers up to 15 points), 30 Pere David Deer, 100 Sika Deer, 30 Fallow Deer, 3 Chinese Water Deer and 1 Muntjac. The small long pond had a mallard and one Garganey female (also seen on 27thAug).
Other birds seen included Heron, Sparrowhawk and Buzzard. Returned to car park via circular walk to and through the village of Woburn.
Steven Cousins