Edinburgh news: Wild deer eating flowers left for loved ones at Craigmillar Castle Park Cemetery

Mourners reported their flowers were being eaten at an Edinburgh cemetery

Wild deer have been eating flowers left by people for their loved ones at the gravesides of an Edinburgh cemetery. Tributes laid at graves in Craigmillar Castle Park Cemetery have been destroyed, with the situation escalating this winter.

Martin Scully, who regularly leaves flowers at his wife’s grave, was told by a staff member at the cemetery near Cameron Toll that wild deer are eating the flowers, after he asked why his flowers kept going missing.

The 71-year-old told the Evening News: “When I first started putting flowers on the grave I put roses down, a couple of days later all the heads would be off the roses and the stems lying on the grass. I changed to other flowers and the same thing happened.

This deer was pictured by gravesides at Craigmillar Castle Park Cemetery.

"I said to the groundsman at the cemetery, ‘I’m putting flowers down every week and they are being destroyed or going missing’. He just said ‘that’s the deer, there are deer in the vicinity’. So over the summer I started to put down a different kind of flowers, which they didn’t seem to like, so I thought, ‘great, I’ve cracked it’. But this winter they seem to be eating anything, as they eat those flowers as well.”

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Mr Scully said it can be “disheartening” for people to see their flowers left at the gravesides of loved ones being destroyed. He said: "There was a big funeral recently at the cemetery with hundreds of flowers, and the next day they were all gone.

"There is quite a lot of forest land around there, so they are obviously coming up to the cemetery and thinking this is breakfast. A lot of people that go there on a regular basis are not putting real flowers on the graves. You can spend £20 easily on flowers, so for them to be eaten, it’s really disheartening.

A deer pictured at Craigmillar Castle Park Cemetery in Edinburgh.

"I’ve not actually seen the deer, but my son has seen them. Just the one. But I believe there are at least four of them.”

The City of Edinburgh Council’s culture and communities convener Val Walker said: “We’re aware of reports of wild deer in Craigmillar Castle Park Cemetery. The cemetery sits alongside a natural heritage park. With the recent cold weather there would be less for them to eat which means they may enter the cemetery more often to forage for food.

“We would recommend cemetery users bear this in mind when leaving flowers for their loved ones.”

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