Ober Heath walk - Ober Heath red deer

Route: Ober Heath

Area: New Forest Hampshire

Date of walk: 6th November 2014

Walkers: Andrew

Distance: 6.2 miles

Weather: mostly overcast

I’d heard that Ober Heath near Brockenhurst is a good place to spot red deer, the largest mammals in the country. These are the largest of the five types of deer to be found in the New Forest and may be spotted on the open heathland, where they can have a good view of their surroundings. Many of them spend a large part of the year on the heath. Although native to Great Britain they were probably extinct by the 17th Century. The red deer in the forest today are thought to be descendants of a group of nine which escaped from a small deer-park in 1962

I arrived early and parked at Ober Corner and it was a thrill to spot a large herd of red deer just a few minutes into the walk – a magnificent sight.

After walking across Ober Heath I entered Poundhill Inclosure and followed an easy straight track through the forest

The next leg of the walk followed the course of a stream through ancient woodland. The going was quite boggy in places, but nowhere difficult. On reaching the outskirts of Brockenhurst I walked beside the busy A337, thankfully for only a short distance, before making my back to the start over the heath

Apart from the short road section the scenery was beautiful throughout, but I’ll remember the walk for the thrill of seeing the red deer

Click on the icon below for the route map (subscribers to OS Maps can view detailed maps of the route, visualise it in aerial 3D, and download the GPX file. Non-subscribers will see a base map)