Chairman: Dorothy Ireland 02380 869486 Secretary: Hugh Goodman 01380 871659 Treasurer: Karene Johnson 01980 654996 Membership Secretary: Stephen Farr 01202 893478 Range Officer: David S Davies 07976 267023 Photographic Officer: George Trebinski Committee: David Barrett Mark Hatt-Cook Robert Hall Trevor Hughes Roger Ireland Matthew Moore Hon Vet: Keith Cutler BSc MRCVS 01722 333291

Events for your Diary 2012

To see red admiral butterflies gently flying in early February, spring flowers bursting forth a month early something must be wrong with our seasons.  Whilst sitting in the garden in early March with blue skies like those of summer, and the temperature on the wall reading 16 degrees something is adrift.  But what?  They call it global warming, but is it just the seasons themselves.  The hares are on time with their boxing in the fields, deer are starting to shed their winter coat, birds are gathering nest material, so what is it that is making so much difference to the weather?

UPDATE

May I take this opportunity in welcoming the new members to Wessex; the branch membership is around 840 now, if we can make those extra members this year to make it to 900 that would be great.

Email addresses are now over half way, however, the cost of a stamp is going up tremendously this spring so please, if you have not already passed your email address onto either myself or Karene please do so soon.  We really have to think seriously about sending out newsletters by post as the funds we make during the year should go towards research, not admin.

Over the last few weeks we have been hearing more and more about Schmallenberg virus (SBV) which is a virus in sheep, cattle and goats.  It has been transported by a midge that has travelled from the Continent and, here in the south, there are quite a number of farms that have been affected.   At the moment we do not know if it has affected deer.  When the outbreak happened in Germany last year it was after the deer fawns/kids had been born.  Peter Green, our Society Hon Vet, advises all to be aware of female deer at the time of birth. It causes deformity in lambs/calves, and the mother also may be poorly so be on your guard.

Thank you to the 19 who answered the questionnaire that we distributed with the AGM call out papers.  It was an exercise that we felt was needed once more.  For those who do not know, our branch consists of members in Hampshire, Dorset, Berkshire, south Wiltshire, Channel Islands, Isle of Wight and parts of Sussex.  Boundaries are set by postal codes and, as you can see, it is a very large area.  In addition, some Chilterns branch members transferred to us when their branch closed.

We have had a request to visit Woburn in the autumn.  Also, after the success of our Dogs for Deer last year Kim Schou Jorgensen has offered to come back again in September.  If you are interested in attending either of these events please let me know soonest as we need a minimum registered interest before arrangements can be made.

Dorothy Ireland
Chairman.