An unexpected arrival

Well, what a beautiful winter we are having aren’t we? Lots of freezing cold days with no chance of idling or you’ll freeze to death in a flash! Amazing how no-one wants to sit down for very long while it’s this cold isn’t it?

One of our first big jobs recently was clearing our little island of all of the tree and scrub growth that has been allowed to develop in the last few years. A half day of chain-sawing and cutting was all it took, great we thought, but we hadn’t taken into consideration just how much mess we’d make. It took four days to drag it off the island using the boat and truck and another few days to cut it up and burn it. This was not helped by the frozen pond, the ice was too thin to risk walking on it but our little flat bottomed dingy was too light (even with me in it) to break through it. The result was that we ended up using the dingy as a very large skate, great for wasting time enjoying yourself with little pushes here and there, but not so good for getting things done.

Our bridge building in the Marsh Lake is also progressing very well. About sixty feet of new walkway has now been built and that only (only???) leaves us about two hundred feet of footpath to make a start on, lets hope the weather holds eh?

All of the animals seem to be getting used to our winter routine and are very relaxed at the moment. Hansel (our Fallow buck) leads the way, approaching anyone who he thinks might give him some food or attention. If you haven’t got any of the former and don’t have time for the latter you’d better watch out because he has developed a habit of gently head butting you if you ignore him;- don’t let him catch you on the river bank!

Hilda’s cub (who we are thinking of calling Darcy but haven’t quite decided yet) is doing very well indeed. We don’t know its sex yet as Hilda is very protective and won’t let me have a look. It is very dark coloured and very big (one of Williams’ traits). Its eyes opened on the 30th November and that is consistent with a birthday of 26th October. I go in to say hello most days and although most of the time I can get nice and close without causing any stress to any of them I can’t get quite close enough to lay on hands and sex it without scaring them (and me!). We are starting to see it out during the day every now and then but more regularly at dusk when we have seen it being dragged into the pond for a three second dip and then being returned to the holt under duress.

William is still in the same pen as Hilda and the cub and seems to be getting used to things. His place in the current circumstances is confusing to both him and us however. Sometimes he is allowed in with the cub unsupervised and that seems to go well, other times he is attacked by Hilda (apparently just for breathing) and on one occasion we saw him being attacked (albeit very briefly) by the cub! Did he try to defend himself? No he didn’t, he legged it while Hilda looked on nonplussed! Very odd.

On Sunday 14th December, a bright, dry, cold day Mandy and I arrived for work as usual. As we went about our morning jobs we heard an unusual call, something between a blackbird’s alarm call and a high pitched childish scream. We heard it every few minutes but couldn’t locate or identify the source. After a bit of searching we found a dead Muntjac doe who looked as though she had died very recently. We concentrated out efforts near to her and after a couple of minutes Mandy found the source of the peculiar sound under a bush; a new born Muntjac fawn, umbilical cord still attached, very cold and very hungry. He was about 5 inches tall and one of the tiniest, cutest things I have ever seen. Straight into my jacket pocket then home and under a heat lamp. Dasher (yes, Dasher, on the insistence of our children) is now a couple of weeks old and doing well. He is playful and extremely fast when he doesn’t want to be caught. He lives with us at home and will continue to do so until the weather warms up. He lies quietly in his box until it approaches feeding time. As soon as he sees his bottle he is up; a big stretch and then he trots over to you and has his meal. After that its playtime, followed by a little exploring (he has access to most of the house but can’t do stairs yet). After an hour or so that’s it, he either takes himself back to his box or settles under the rocking chair or his favourite radiator. Before you ask, no he doesn’t mess everywhere, he’s got nice manners and waits to be stimulated before going to the toilet. Very civilised.

Happy New Year.