Wednesday 18th - Staff Check

 Belated post for yesterdays staff check. All 4 were found deep in the birch along the northern boundary, looking well

Tuesday 18 August - Hiding in the Silver Birches

My first day back on lookering duty and, believe it or not, it was raining as I got out of my car!  Also, the mobile phone signal was poorer than usual so I couldn't get an update on the NoFence picture I'd seen before leaving home.  But I don't think they could have moved much as I found them hiding where they had been, deep in the silver birch trees in E5 close to (what is normally) the Gelvert Stream. A couple were lying down and steer 200 was as startled as I was when we came suddenly came face to face.  They all appeared fine.

The 'spring' in the NW corner is running well to fill the pool there and the pond has sufficient water.

2.30pm, Mon 17 Aug, All 4 found, 20m on the left as entering the site, all quite close together

They were grazing amongst the ferns and gorse and looked fine.

The fire hydrant area and pond still have water

Sunday 16th August - All 4 seen

At 15:45 this afternoon, steer 200 and cow 201 were having a refreshing drink from the pond. Afterwards, they both climbed the bank to join me on the grassy area along the western side. Steers 207 and 208 were finishing their grazing in the pasture to the north of the main path, but soon wandered over to join us. All four took turns coming over to say hello and enjoy some attention, with steer 200 particularly enjoying plenty of neck scratches.

Once the greetings were over, the four gathered around me and relaxed, chewing their cud. Although it was cooler today, with extended periods of cloud cover, there were still plenty of flies about. The cattle gradually edged closer as time went on, happy for me to help keep the flies away from their faces. Steer 200 eventually came right up to me and tucked his head into my side, seemingly quite content to just stand there with me. After a good while, he repositioned himself for a long back scratch, shifting around enthusiastically as I reached all those particularly itchy spots.

After saying my goodbyes at 16:50, cow 201 and steer 207 wandered off to the southeast to graze, while steers 200 and 208 remained resting and watched me leave.

The pond still had some water in it, although the level was noticeably lower than last Sunday. The cattle continue to favour entering from the northern bank, even though it is a little swampy, and they end up with muddy feet. Before leaving, I also walked over to the fire hydrant in the northwest corner, where some additional water was still pooled just inside the fence line for them to drink.

The cattle were all good today.

Saturday

 Couldn’t find them today at 9am. 

9.30am, 13 Aug, all 4 on the side of Brock Hill, eating the gorse with vigour

But stopped and stared once they spotted me.. looked to be okay

The pond still had water but it’s definitely getting lower and Fire Hydrant source looked to be the same

Thursday 13th August - Staff Check

All four seen well resting in the shade in the NE corner of site near Aldershot road pipe line.  

Water still flowing 

No issues to report