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We had a call out to a deer today that was in someone’s garden in Backwell. It appeared to have a head and neck injury and one of our volunteers, Martin went out to collect it. It was obviously badly injured so it was taken straight to the vets. Sadly it had a dislocated neck so the kindest thing was to put it to sleep.

 It was only this year’s male and was in really good condition. It made me think of my guys – our fawns from this year – and I hope that Derek, Rob and Martin will be in good condition too. You may remember that we had one fallow fawn called Stuart, three male roe and a red male and female.

Stuart, the Fallow fawn, moved up to the Chestnut Centre in Derbyshire. Leigh, one of our carers and Dave, a volunteer, took her up to her new home in September. He has been accepted by the herd and will live a very happy life with the Heap family The last I heard he was doing well. He will be of value to the herd bringing a fresh bloodline to the herd.

Stuart the Fallow that went to the Chestnut Centre

 The red and the roe went to a fenced in area of 136 acres with no deer other than two female roe that we released there last year. I have been in touch with the people at the centre and although the red are often glimpsed by people in the wood the roe have not been seen hardly at all but have been seen on security cameras and are doing well.

My little herd!

There was evidently one occasion when they were all seen together very early in the morning – this years, and last years deer so they must be socialising.

 It is lovely to have found such a good release site with a beautiful wood where they will be safe from poachers and traffic.

 There is one already another roe in our deer pen that came in yesterday. It is moving around so it most be able to get up. At the moment it is blind which happens through stress and this sight will come back in time but we need to find out how it goes over the next few days. We need to get the cameras up in there so that we can monitor it more closely. The camera was moved to watch the otters when we put them together. That’s the problem with only having a few cameras and having to move them around.

I hope he will still be with us tomorrow.

The badger that came in last night has a territorial wound and as Lisa is off sick ( with swine flu maybe !!) we need to get him to the vets. He’s been called sooty as he is so black after being trapped in a coal bunker for several days. The list soon grows as one of the badger cubs that was separated from a group yesterday as he seemed unwell, has collapsed. There are also two hedgehogs that need to have anaesthetics to check wound, one with an injured eye and the other with an injured back leg. So it was a busy few hours first thing trying to sort it all out.

The deer have all decided to move into together so it gave us a chance to open a new shed which is alongside the fawn shed so that they can use either. It means that the deer pen with padded walls, where the red calves has been, can be scrubbed out ready for any adult deer that come in ( which at the moment, seems to be quite often).

The Cygnets have really grown

The cygnets went out into a larger pen today and loved the extra space. There was a lot of running around with their short stubby wings but they soon settled.

The badger cub was sadly put to sleep as it was too ill but I have sent it for a post-mortem to find out why it went down hill so quickly. Both the hedgehogs were put to sleep, one because it had a fracture to the skull as well as the injured eye and the other had the infection in the leg and joint and was beyond help. It can get very upsetting but we have to accept that the casualties that go into the vets are usually very seriously ill and there is only so much that can be done.

Sooty was the only one to return. He has a territorial wound and is very thin but I think that is down to having been starved whilst trapped in the coal bunker. He’s still looking very dirty!

Another badger that has been with us for a few days is looking a lot stronger and feeding well so he should be going home soon. It’s going to be a busy day tomorrow as we have filming going on. Hope the weather keeps fine.

This badger will be going home soon

Sooty will need a few days rest

The alarm went just after 1 a.m. and it was two people who had picked up a badger cub that had been knocked over in the road. They were very

The fallow fawn settled with the roe kids

 upset as they had thought the person who knocked it down was stopping to help it but when they went past later it was still there. It was alive but sadly died on the journey to us. It was so kind of them to bring it in to us at such a late time. When I came back in the house, the sight of all the fawns in the cubby hole together was a delight to see.

I woke to the constant noise of the fallow fawn calling. He has been very unsettled all day so I decided to move them all down to the fawn unit. Some of the volunteers have been putting up an extra shed so that we have somewhere to put deer if we are called out to them as the red calves are taking up the deer pen at the moment. At least I can watch them on camera and I managed to weigh them as I moved them down to the unit so I can monitor their weight.

 At last I have chance to put the vacuum cleaner around the kitchen properly and the only thing on view in the cubby hole for 24 hours will be the dog or cats. There’s somebody whose pleased about it!

 Another hot day, it’s been hard to keep everything cool in the pens

Albert's pleased to have the Cubby Hole back again!