THE BDS WESSEX BRANCH
Information on the British Deer Society (BDS) Wessex branch including events, news, and contacts.
BRANCH AREA AND COMMITTEE

BRANCH CONTACTS
Chair | Dorothy Ireland | d.ireland@bdsbranches.org.uk |
Secretary | Hugh Goodman | h.goodman@bdsbranches.org.uk |
Membership | Stephen Farr | |
Treasurer | Karene Johnson | |
Range Officer | David S Davies | |
Photographic Officer | George Trebinski |
BRANCH COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Other committee members
David Barrett
Mark Hatt-Cook
Trevor Hughes
Roger Ireland
Matthew Moore
Nigel Dewing
Terry Hoskins
Hon. Vet. Keith Cutler BSc MRVCS
BRANCH AREAS
Postcode | Area |
BA12 – BA15 | Bath |
BH | Bournemouth |
DT | Dorchester |
GU10 – GU12 | Guildford |
GU14 | Guildford |
GU17 | Guildford |
GU21 – GU22 | Guildford |
GU26 | Guildford |
GU30 – GU35 | Guildford |
GU46 – GU47 | Guildford |
GU51 – GU52 | Guildford |
GY | Guernsey |
JE | Jersey |
PO | Portsmouth |
RG | Reading |
SL | Slough |
SN8 – SN9 | Swindon |
SO | Southampton |
SP | Salisbury |
EVENTS
Please note that branch events may not be going ahead due to Covid-19 pandemic.
Date
Event
24th Mar 7:30PM
WEBINAR: Meet the Sponsor Blaser Special (Online)
Next Event
WEBINAR: Meet the Sponsor Blaser Special
24/03/2021 7:30 PM
Opportunity to meet one of our sponsors' Blaser and find out more about them and how they will be supporting the British Deer Society. The Panel To be confirmed Ask a Question If you would like to ask a question in advance please email info@bds.org.uk
NEWS
Branch AGM
Below you will see notification of our Branch AGM, this year will be so different as we will have to have a virtual one by ‘Zoom’, so please bear with us on this. My thanks to David Mcauley our Society CEO and Sarah Stride for setting it up for us from HO.
If you are attending, you must register your attendance to the meeting to CEO@bds.org.uk so that an invite can be sent out to you.
Also below your officers and committee are willing to stand once again, with one new name Tony Lowry joining us, however, all will need a proposer and second, so please would you send these to either Hugh Goodman Secretary or Dorothy Ireland the sooner this can be done the better, so it can be recorded for the meeting. David Mcauley CEO will be joining the meeting, so giving you the opportunity of meeting him.
All Branch Members are cordially invited to attend, by registering your attendance to the meeting to CEO@bds.org.uk giving your full name.
The Annual General Meeting of the Wessex Branch
British Deer Society will be held by ‘Zoom’
Thursday 4th February 2021 7 pm.
If members have any issues that they wish to raise at the meeting, they are requested to notify the Secretary Hugh Goodman or Chair Dorothy Ireland preferably by e-mail or in writing by 28th January 2021 in order to give an adequate time for a considered response.
All the following will need a nominator and second, please.
Chair: Dorothy Ireland
Secretary: Hugh Goodman
Treasurer: Karene Johnson
Committee: David Barrett, David Davies, Mark Hatt-Cook, Matthew Moore, Roger Ireland, Stephen Farr,
Trevor Hughes, Terry Hoskins, one new member Tony Lowry.

Deer attractions
Apart from the wild deer population in the Wessex area, there are a good number of parks that have deer. Some are private collections that one cannot go and see but others you can visit if permission is granted.
Also, there are places like The New Forest Wildlife Park where you can walk near sika and see red and fallow in the fields. There are not only deer but wolves, bison, otters and a great deal more.
At Child Beale Centre in Berkshire along with Bucklebury Farm and Deer Safari/park, you can view the deer on tractor and trailer. At Longleat Safari Park you can drive through, but be careful of the monkeys!
Another tractor and trailer ride is back in the New Forest at Burley, deep in the Forest with the New Forest Deer Safari good place for photography as the red deer are very used to the tractor and people on the trailer.
Then over in Dorset, you can see red, fallow and Père David on a walk through the deer park at Melbury, but please keep your dogs on a lead.
At the beautiful setting in North Dorset, Charborough Park, there are fallow and red but one would have to find out whether you can still see them on a walk.
Stock Gaylard in the Blackmore Vale, again in North Dorset, appears to be the oldest existing park in the country with a herd of some 120 adult deer and fawns. They are an indigenous herd of mainly menil fallow and the licence to empark deer there was granted in 1266.
These are just a few places where deer can be found in parks or private collections. Hopefully, by summer 2021 we will be back to some sort of normality, so why not take a trip to one of the attractions that enable you to see deer without disturbing them.
Sadly this has happened so much this last rut, as once again in the New Forest people were trying to get that little bit closer with their cameras. The keepers and rangers were out as much as they could be, explaining to people that a distance should be kept from the deer and themselves.
Events
It was yet again a disappointment that we had to cancel our evening regarding firearms etc. in November, but we will hold it at some time in the future with Jamie Cordery Forestry commission deer officer and Tony Hill from Hants police.
At the moment planning events has to be on hold for the time being, so finalising the two shows that we hope will take place will be done later. If all goes well they are Highclere Fair in May and the New Forest Show in July. The Royal Berkshire Show has already been cancelled for September 2021.
HAD’s
During these last months, one would have thought that deer would not be involved in accidents due to the number of vehicles not being on the road. This has not been so, and some of our Hampshire HAD’s have been kept very busy, especially one in the north of the county.
The A343 has seen so many deer being involved in accidents as a result of people driving extremely fast because the roads have been quieter. I am hoping by the time this report reaches you the ‘High Risk Route’ signs that are placed in the New Forest will have been put up.
STAY IN TOUCH
If your contact information has changed please make sure to let us know. To update your details simply email membership@bds.org.uk or call 01425 655434.
LATEST NEWS

Changes to DSC1 and DSC2
Information has recently been shared relating to changes to DSC1 and DSC2 made by Deer Management Qualifications (DMQ).. These changes come into effect on April the 1st.

Relaxation of Covid-19 Restrictions
Due to the planned relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions, the BDS will from March the 8th be resuming delivery of DSC1 and Deer Management Courses. Find out more.

New Video – How to Complete a Habitat Impact Assessment
The Farm Advisory Service has produced a great new video detailing How to Complete a Habitat Impact Assessment.
In the video Conservation Consultant, Helen Bibby, and Professor Rory Putman, Chair of the British Deer Society & visiting Professor at the University of Glasgow, take you through all the key steps on how to undertake a Habitat Impact Assessment.