Last month, in spite of a slipped disc, I travelled to New Zealand to see my brother and sister in law's six month old baby, Esme.
Wherever I visit I can't resist searching out the local wildlife. But to my surprise we saw more non-native or introduced wildlife than native.
Most of the area I travelled through was so familiar that looking about at the woolly thistles and rolling farmland I could easily have been in parts of the Scottish Highlands.
Our first place of rest was an impressive lodge constructed of macrocarpa wood on the Otago Peninsula in the South Island . It overlooked a tidal estuary named the Papanui Inlet.
Our Belgian chef, Dana, surprised us with a feast of venison on the first night.
I knew deer farming was big business in New Zealand . In fact, there are some 3,000 deer farms with a total of 250,000 head of deer.
So I was interested to learn where the venison on my plate had come from. It turned out the owner of the lodge, Kyle, was pretty much self-sufficient and had shot the deer himself.
“He's a very good provider.” said Dana. I hadn't realised that there were any wild red deer in New Zealand . It turned out that all New Zealanders have a birth right to hunt and fish wherever they choose.
After an enjoyable meal we watched as thousands of red billed gulls flew up the estuary to roost over night on the sand banks.
Young sea lions chased each other across the sand before disappearing into the red and golden water as it reflected the setting sun. As darkness fell we went to bed early, our body clock exhausted by the 11 hour time difference.
The next morning, I was still trying to get my head around the fact that I had travelled half the way around the world to see red deer roaming the forests and hills.
Red deer were liberated in New Zealand between 1851 and 1910 for sport. At the time the native forests were being cut down for logging, which eventually gave way to farming, and the landscape of the North and South Islands was undergoing major changes.
In spite of hunting, populations of deer increased steadily. This had a dramatic effect on the native vegetation, which had evolved without the presence of browsing mammals.
Especially susceptible were the lower tiers of forest where the more palatable plant species were being devoured to the point of extinction.
The upper tiers of the forest, foliage and bark, were meanwhile being attacked by possums, introduced at a similar time from Australia .
The damage caused by the deer was recognised by the department of Internal Affairs and later by the Forest Service. A deer control program was implemented between 1931 and 1968 which resulted in one million deer being shot.
By the late 1960s, the monetary value of the deer rose both in New Zealand itself and in overseas markets.
Venison and velvet, the fine hair on the deer's antlers which is used as a health supplement, meant that deer became less of a problem and more of an opportunity.
Deer farming began in earnest and these troublesome herds were contained and controlled to found a multi-million dollar global business. Although scattered herds remain in the wild still, hence my delicious venison supper.
As I cleared my plate and looked out across the bay I couldn't shake off a surreal feeling. Here I was, some 11,500 miles away from home, and yet the scene outside the window could have been the Scottish islands, where I go to study red deer for my paintings.
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Wildlife Diary -
