Last weekend I went back home to Ashridge, in Hertfordshire. There is 2,000 acres of atmospheric mature woodland with lots of waymarked trails to explore. I aimed to photograph the many fallow deer that roam the woods and golf course of the Ashridge estate. This historic parkland was Ashridge's original deer-park so it seemed the perfect place. Some of the images were taken in the Golden Valley, which is really spectacular in the autumn. Tracking the deer was not difficult a I have lived in the area for many years. The deer stay in large groups and follow along the same paths on a day to day basis. Large stags are often found in the area but I had to be very careful as they become very aggressive at this time of year due to the rutting season.
Deer at Ashridge
'Ashridge began life as a monastery in the 13
th Century and at this time Fallow deer were introduced to a small medieval deer park to provide a ready source of fresh meat. Following the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII in 1539 Ashridge became a royal Estate and the Fallow deer were regularly hunted for sport. The Park was expanded over the centuries to it’s maximum size of nearly 1000 acres and the deer continued to be managed within the Park for sport and meat. Deer remained in the Park (with the exception of a few escapees) until the sale and threatened break up of the Estate in the 1920s, following the death of Lord Brownlow. Following the sale of large parts of the Park the Fallow herd escaped to become the wild herd that roams Ashridge today.
The Ashridge Estate currently extends to approximately 2000 Ha and has a large and diverse landscape and habitat range encompassing areas of unimproved open grassland, woodland and farmland together with remnants of the historic parkland, surrounding the grounds at Ashridge Management College (not in NT ownership).
Most of the woodland and grassland is designated as nationally important for nature conservation. Ashridge is also an important recreational area and the Estate receives approximately 600,000 visits each year.'
There is an ever growing number of deer in the area that are beginning to cause a negative effect that is considerably impacting on the environment. Therefore a strategy has been put in place to cull some of the deer to protect vulnerable areas, crop lands and to reduce the amount of traffic accidents within the area.
Below are some of the images I captured in Ashridge.
All images are copyright to Abbi Hughes
The habitat was a woodland area with large golf course, grassy areas. This provides a perfect habitat for a vast variety of wildlife. Other fauna that was seen is labelled below.
Green Woodpeckers
Blackbirds
Blue Tits
Coal Tits
Nuthatch's
Robins
Great Tits
Squirrels
Fallow Deer
Muntjacks
Voles
Mice
Pipistrel Bats
The woodlands flora was mainly made up of tall trees with little shrubbery apart from bracken, bramble patches and fallen leaves. The trees comprised of:
Oak
Ash
Birch
Hazel.
I hope you enjoy my images.
Abbi
Location : Ashridge
Date: 6th February 2011
Time: 2pm-5pm
Weather: Heavy clouds, soft winds and occasional bursts of sunlight
Map Reference: SP975135
