Welcome “two” the herd - Kent Wildlife Trust

Ground-breaking wilding project welcomes the birth of two female bison calves

Kent Wildlife Trust and Wildwood Trust, the two charities behind the Wilder Blean bison project, a ground-breaking award-winning conservation project in Canterbury, Kent say they are delighted to have welcomed two calves to the herd.

The new arrivals were conceived and born in West Blean and Thornden Woods and have increased the wild bison herd population in the project to eight. The founding herd of three females and a bull was released in 2022 with four calves born in the woodland since. Conservationists say that the calves are genetically important, coming from a specially selected lineage and will now form part of the European breeding programme.

Bison Ranger for Kent Wildlife Trust Hannah Mackins described the moment she realised one of the calves had been born:

“The rangers check the bison daily and the herd sometimes hear us working around here and come up to see us. On this occasion, to my absolute astonishment, one of the females came up behind the group and I saw underneath her she had a little calf. Although we were thinking she might have been pregnant, we weren't expecting to have an arrival so soon and the fact she was confident enough to bring her calf up to the corral where she knew we were working was such an honour.”

As the team welcomed the new arrival, just four days later, they were met with more joyous news when a second calf was born. Ranger Hannah continued: “We are absolutely delighted by the arrival of the calves, they're both doing really well. They're suckling from mum, growing quickly by the day. Their little horns are already starting to come through and we're happy with the progress of the herd. They're all protecting the calves well, spending time out in the woods and occasionally coming up to see us as well. So, we're really happy with how the herd are doing.”