n independent land management group in the Cairngorms working to control the deer population has seen numbers drop by more than half since the 1990s, figures have revealed.
The Upper Deeside and Donside Land Management Group (UDDLM), a voluntary collaboration of land managers covering around a quarter of the national park, released their annual deer count for this year.
Figures show the red deer population across the area covered by the group, which is some 999sqkm, dropped from 8,411 deer in 1996 to 4,054 in 2024. It means there are now just over four deer per sqkm compared to eight previously.
As I thought “working to control” is a pretty telling way to not say “killing” which is what they do. I don’t really have an opinion on the fact that they’re doing this, humanity has fucked with nature so much I can understand that we need to control it constantly to keep it from collapsing even further (pretty sure it would self-regulate once we’re gone but 🤷♀️) but I find it disingenuous to dance around the facts like that (even though I of course understand why they’re doing it as well …).