IT SEEMS like an animal lover's dream.

York postgraduate Alastair Ward will be spending the next three years studying the population of wild roe deer on the dramatic North York Moors.

David Attenborough, eat your heart out.

Alastair himself, though, admits the reality of his work will be far from the glamour of the BBC's Wildlife on One.

One of the key ways to work out just how many deer there are roaming the moors' extensive woodlands will be to count their droppings.

Alastair said: "You lay out a line, then on your hands and knees you clear all the dung off the site and leave it. Then you go back after a set time, and count how much dung is there."

Very little is currently known about the moors' roe deer population - except that they cause enormous damage to woodland.

Between 300 and 400 deer are culled every year by Forest Enterprise to keep the numbers down.

Alastair, 26, who is studying for his doctorate at the University of York, aims to find out not only about the number of deer on the moors, but also about their movements, their favourite habitats, and the age and health of the population.

As well as getting down on his hands and knees to count droppings, he will be spending time in the tree tops observing deer movements with thermal imaging equipment.

He'll also be analysing the remains of deer killed in regular culls to get an idea of the health and age of the populations.

And he will be carrying out surveys of vegetation damage and comparing that with deer density to allow likely future levels of damage to be predicted.

Ultimately, the aim is to develop a working model that will make it easier for Forest Enterprise to manage the forest and control deer populations, hopefully without the need for culls.

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