Sighting of Muntjac deer in Essex

[poplet]

Hi
Hope this is the correct place to post but I wanted to tell forum users of a sighting my son and I experienced earlier this evening.

We live in Benfleet in Essex and whilst driving past St Peters Church in Thundersley noticed a creature which we at first took to be a fox. As we drove slowly nearer to it we were able to notice more of it's features and it certainly was not a fox but a small deer, after consulting the web, I think it was a Muntjac.

We have never known deer to be in this part of Essex but were thrilled to see this rare creature. Does anyone have any thoughts on what we saw?

[Kayleigh]

sounds like a muntjac

[2dogs2000]

Welcome to WAB. It sounds like muntjac to me too. The first one I ever saw I mistook for a dog.

[Ukwildlifeo]

There are plenty of Muntjac in the Basildon area - Norsey woods and Hanningfield Nature reserve have plenty. I think they are pretty common in the area and I'd put money on them being present in Hadleigh CP. And there is plenty of woodland in Thundersley.

Muntjac will wander in urban areas too. We had one across the road to me in Romford. Which is built up with the only greenery being gardens and they can be found in North London.

[2dogs2000]

Originally Posted by Ukwildlifeo

There are plenty of Muntjac in the Basildon area - Norsey woods and Hanningfield Nature reserve have plenty. I think they are pretty common in the area and I'd put money on them being present in Hadleigh CP. And there is plenty of woodland in Thundersley.

Muntjac will wander in urban areas too. We had one across the road to me in Romford. Which is built up with the only greenery being gardens and they can be found in North London.

My first encounter was on school premises (in town)and I went to shoo the dog away

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by poplet

We have never known deer to be in this part of Essex but were thrilled to see this rare creature. Does anyone have any thoughts on what we saw?

Not sure if they can be called 'rare' - they're pretty common in this part of Herts.. They're quite furtive and skulking woodland creatures, so they're not always easy to spot.

Jim

[Farplace]

Welcome to the forum Poplet. It does sound like a muntjac. Does anyone know if they are found in the Pennines / County Durham or Northumberland areas? I have only seen roe deer around here.

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by Farplace

Welcome to the forum Poplet. It does sound like a muntjac. Does anyone know if they are found in the Pennines / County Durham or Northumberland areas? I have only seen roe deer around here.

They're a woodland species. Someone told me many years ago that almost any woodland will have munjac (but maybe he was only referring to the Home Counties!)

Jim

[poplet]

Thanks for the replies, I am so pleased I found this site after my encounter with the little deer. Sounds like they are more common than I thought, I have just not been lucky enough to see one before and I walk our local woodlands every day with my two flat coated retrievers (probably why!). I will certainly keep my eyes open even more now and spend a little more time searching this site.

Tracey

[RKB]

Originally Posted by Jim Ford

They're a woodland species. Someone told me many years ago that almost any woodland will have munjac (but maybe he was only referring to the Home Counties!)

Jim

They'll live in quite a broad range of habitat - scrub, thickets, farmland with hedges, suburbs with large gardens, reedbeds. They're not restricted to woodland by any means, but probably reach their highest densities there (up to about 1.5 per hectare) and that's where attention has been focussed. They can be elusive, but their tracks and droppings are easy to spot, and they're not too hard to flush where they're common, and they will often give themselves away by barking. They're frequent as roadkill too.