Bambi

Denise seen having her daily chat with Bambi, leaving her some breakfast, on the way back from "pooh" picking.

We are all animal lovers working here at Holton Lee, so it is naturally distressing to find a fawn orphaned before she was old enough to be weaned. It was apparent that Bambi was probably about three weeks old when she lost her mum because she was seen to be grazing and cudding - a sign that the rumen was working.

Very weak and thin with obvious eye infections she was a great concern to Denise. After consulting with Mike, the deer stalker responsible for the deer on the estate, Denise was advised not to try to catch her to bottle feed her as we were tempted to do, because the trauma of catching her might easily be her demise.

It was difficult to accept this at first, but Denise has been offering her some of the horses' pasture mix every day and it is rewarding to witness her growing in strength and health: her eyes are now clear and she can be found most days in the same stretch on the edge of the woods with one or two favourite trees providing shelter. Sometimes she won't be seen for two or three days, but then she's returned to her regular spot. It has to be remembered that Bambi is a wild animal.

Denise's gentle patience has won Bambi's confidence and nature has been kind. Several times she has been seen grazing with the herd in the fields, but she prefers to let the herd go off deep into the reed beds as is their habit during the daytime, while she lies up behind the fence in the picture.