Ben Martill often looks out from his flat in Horsham, West Sussex, and watches deer wandering through the streets below. It’s an unusual sight for a busy market town, but one that has become increasingly common.
“In the last few years there have been loads of them,” says the 33-year-old gardener. “You’ll see herds running up Crawley Road, and at night they gather on the bypass traffic island.”
Deer have smashed through fences at his clients’ gardens, stripped bark from trees, and even caused a close call for Ben himself. “I clipped one in the car once. It just bolted into the bushes.”
Scenes like this are playing out across Britain, reflecting a dramatic rise in deer numbers — a trend with serious environmental, economic, and safety consequences.
A population boom
Deer populations have been growing steadily for decades, but experts say the situation worsened after the Covid-19 pandemic, when culling dropped sharply. While exact numbers are unknown, the Forestry Commission and Defra estimate there may now be around two million deer in the UK, compared with roughly 450,000 in the 1970s.
With no natural predators, a mild climate, and vast suitable habitat, Britain has become ideal for deer. Although around 350,000 animals are culled annually, experts say as many as 750,000 may need to be removed each year just to keep numbers stable.
Costs to people and nature
The impact is felt everywhere. Deer-related vehicle collisions may kill or injure up to 74,000 animals annually, according to the AA, causing hundreds of human injuries and occasional fatalities.
In the countryside, deer browsing prevents woodland regeneration, stripping saplings before they can grow. Conservationists warn this threatens entire ecosystems, including bird populations and wildflowers.
Farmers face major losses. In Scotland alone, damage to young trees costs an estimated £3 million annually. Suffolk farmer Lucy Manthorpe says deer were destroying over £10,000 worth of crops each year — until she hired a full-time worker to manage culling. Since then, wildflowers, insects, and birds have returned to her land.
How did it get this bad?
Only two of Britain’s six deer species are native. Others were introduced centuries ago or escaped from estates after World War I, when large properties fell into decline. Over time, once-isolated populations spread and merged.
Legally, wild deer belong to no one, leaving responsibility for control with individual landowners — a system that often leads to patchy and ineffective management.
What can be done?
There is broad agreement that deer numbers must be reduced, but deep disagreement over how.
Some animal welfare groups advocate contraception or fencing, though conservation bodies argue these methods are expensive, difficult to scale, and often ineffective.
Others suggest reintroducing predators such as lynx — an idea backed by some rewilding advocates but strongly opposed by farmers and rural groups, who fear risks to livestock and livelihoods. Even supporters admit predators alone would not solve the problem.
For now, large-scale culling remains the most practical option. Many experts argue that expanding the venison market could help, framing deer as a sustainable food source. Wild venison is lean, nutritious, and has a lower carbon footprint than farmed meat.
Tough choices ahead
Governments across the UK acknowledge the issue but have yet to deliver coordinated solutions. Scotland is moving toward stronger legal powers, while England and Wales are still considering proposals.
What’s clear, say land managers, is that doing nothing isn’t an option.
As Lucy Manthorpe puts it: “The deer aren’t deciding what happens here anymore. Nature is.”