NOTES FROM TIGGYWINKLES: Winter nights spell danger for wildlife

How many times do I have to slow because I can’t see the way ahead? And what happens if there is an animal on the road.

Wild animals, especially deer and, with the exception of some, foxes have no road sense. Why should they have?

After all we have built our roads bang-smack across their territory.

They have no problem after dark and are probably more mobile on their night-time excursions taking no account of that road in their way.

Thankfully their incursions, or are they our incursions, happen after most of us have put up our driving gloves for the night and gone to bed.

Those summer nights in British summertime are mostly incident free, but when the clocks go back on the last Sunday in October the dark of night comes that much earlier and then “crash”, man’s car careers into a wild animal, usually a deer.

Many are killed outright but quite a lot suffer injuries of various severities.

It is not illegal to accidentally collide, injure or kill a deer on the road but we can do something to prevent accidents by driving slower and more carefully at night, especially where there are known to be deer. The old adage used to be “Drive within your headlights”.

Also might I ask that, provided it is safe, could you look to rescue an injured deer, cover its head with a coat or blanket.

Give us a call and stay in the area in order to guide our rescue team as the casualty will often crawl off into the roadside undergrowth.