The UK’s deer population is at its highest level for 1,000 years, and is growing exponentially. Now at roughly 2 million animals, the UK’s deer stalkers need to cull at least 750,000 animals a year just for the population to stand still. There are also more food banks in the UK than ever. As the need for food grows, donations, especially those containing protein, become harder to find.

To combat these two problems, the Wild Venison Project has created a supply chain from deer stalkers all over the country to food banks that need protein-rich donations. The Guardian environment correspondent Damien Gayle follows the process from forest to food bank, to see if venison could provide an answer to Britain’s food shortage.