I recently spent a weekend at Center Parcs in Elveden Forest.
This is one of several pictures I took which featured the very common muntjac which prowl the site. They are Reeves Muntjac. They are very common in Norfolk and Suffolk.
They are native to China and Taiwan. The animals which we see today are related to animals which are thought to have escaped from Woburn Abbey and other locations in the early part of the 20th century, and have adapted well to the UK's landcape and climate. They don't really have predators (although I wiped one out with my car, which was written off in return). They also don't really compete with the native deer. They are common in SE of England and are heading north and west.
They are not too fussy about what the eat which means they can cause damage to woodlands, and eat rare plants. The loss of these plants affects insects and birds.
The local 'KL Magazine' had a piece recently, which suggested that the loss of woodland ground cover is a key impact that they have. One suggestion has been to reintroduce the lynx - even the smell of a lynx is enough to keep muntjac from grazing an area.
Keep an eye out for them, but remember that their presence has an impact on woodlands.
Image: Muntjac, Alan Parkinson, and shared under CC license.
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