Thurs 21st May - staff check

All 4 seen seen well grazing along the southeastern fenceline. Still plenty of water in the ditch.

Mon 19 May, forgot to say I did try and see the cows but was locked out again

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All 4 seen & well Tue 19th May

Saw all 4 in the middle of the site today and all looked well. 

I checked the water level in the ditch - it's still full of water, and is particularly deep at the far end, by the stone culvert, c. 1 foot deep and a small amount of water is still coming into the ditch from the reservoir sluice. No cattle hoof prints by the pasture pumps unfortunately! but plenty of water in those too.

I have tried to obtain more info on when test track is open to the public from my MoD contacts, but no luck so far! But the usual access always used to be every other weekend, so I agree that it's not worth trying on Friday's.  

Many thanks.

Sunday 17th May - All 4 seen

Shortly after 17:00 this afternoon, the cattle were grazing in the thicket near ///reinstate.riches.punt, about 100 metres southeast of the Test Track. Light rain was falling, and they were all browsing deep among the bushes, but they soon emerged to greet me. Steers 200 and 208 approached cautiously at first, before settling beside me to relax and chew their cud. Cow 201 soon wandered over as well. Steer 207 was the last to appear and, after coming over to say hello, he rested briefly before returning to graze on the heather nearby. All four were happy, relaxed, and looking well.

I said my goodbyes at 17:40 as the rain intensified once more, leaving steers 200 and 208, along with cow 201, huddled together resting and chewing their cud, while steer 207 continued browsing the leaves from the nearby bushes.

The cattle were all good today.

Note: I did attempt to check on the cattle on Friday 15th May at 18:00, but the gate was locked and the red danger signs were displayed. As this seems to happen every Friday, it’s probably best that I stop trying to check the cattle on Fridays.

 

Saturday

 All found at 8.30 just off the path near the pasture pumps although there was no sign that the cows had been using them. All looked good. 

Thursday 14th - STAFF CHECK

Found the 4 relaxing un a cleared area in the centre of the sote. All looked well.

Checked the new drinking troughs and both were ful and working. No idea if the cows are using them though.

Sean

2.30pm, Mon 11 May, gate was locked so couldn’t check on the cows

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