I've found - for the second time- what I'm 99.9% sure are muntjac tracks in woodland in Cornwall. I have been told that there are no muntjac in cornwall, does anyone know any different so that I can stop thinking that I'm going mad!
Muntjac in Cornwall?
- Thread starter Rhoda
- Start date
I've found - for the second time- what I'm 99.9% sure are muntjac tracks in woodland in Cornwall. I have been told that there are no muntjac in cornwall, does anyone know any different so that I can stop thinking that I'm going mad!
Hi Rhoda, the last course I did with Max (a few years ago now) we came across Muntjac tracks, this to me was a little unusual as I had been told that Muntjac had not made it this far south yet.
A couple of weeks ago I was talking to someone who has seen Muntjac in the southwest (well to the south of Exeter), I would say that if people have seen them there then there is a likelyhood is that they have spread a lot further south than most people would suspect.
Thanks Leon,
if it was just once I would have thought I was mistaken but twice makes me think i must be right. Two different locations too so maybe there are more around than we think. Thanks for the link too Andy!
if it was just once I would have thought I was mistaken but twice makes me think i must be right. Two different locations too so maybe there are more around than we think. Thanks for the link too Andy!
It's got to have been about three years since my last course with Max (maybe longer), it wouldn't surprise me for them to have spread from Mid Devon through to Cornwall in that space of time.
No local knowledge but this distribution map shows them in Cornwall. Page 9.
http://www.jncc.gov.uk/pdf/pub05_ukmammals_speciesstatusPlates02_final.pdf
http://www.jncc.gov.uk/pdf/pub05_ukmammals_speciesstatusPlates02_final.pdf
Enjoy their scarcity while it lasts because once they get a hold there will be no stopping them . It is high time the Deer Act was reviewed with regards to this species and a decision be taken to better align them as vermin. A hefty muntjac population will have a severely detrimental effect on species such as Roe given the diversity of their diet and their propensity to breed all year round. I shoot a lot of Muntjac and rarely take does that are not at some stage of gestation. I am of course not in favour of wiping them out but they most certainly require a more intensified level of management than any of the UK's other resident species.
. It is high time the Deer Act was reviewed with regards to this species and a decision be taken to better align them as vermin. A hefty muntjac population will have a severely detrimental effect on species such as Roe given the diversity of their diet and their propensity to breed all year round. I shoot a lot of Muntjac and rarely take does that are not at some stage of gestation. I am of course not in favour of wiping them out but they most certainly require a more intensified level of management than any of the UK's other resident species.
