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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Sunday 10th May - All 4 seen

Shortly after 15:00 this afternoon, the cattle were gathered to the east of the reservoir, near ///elevates.destiny.shining. Steer 207 was lying down, relaxing and chewing his cud, while the other three stood under the trees. They occasionally rubbed themselves against the branches for a good scratch. After a short while, they slowly began edging forward one by one to say hello and give me a few sniffs. Afterwards, they drifted over to the area east of the trees to stand and chew their cud. About fifteen minutes later, steer 207 also got up, had a big stretch, and joined the others. All four were happy, relaxed, and looking well.

The cattle continued to rest peacefully and chew their cud, occasionally wandering off to graze on the grass growing around the gorse. Around 15:25, steer 200 wandered over to where I was standing and seemed content to simply stand beside me while relaxing and chewing his cud. I said my goodbyes at 15:45, leaving them all resting.

As I was leaving, I checked the pasture pumps. While there were no signs that the cattle had been drinking from them, there was some debris floating on the surface of the water, so I gave both pumps a bit of a clean. There was also plenty of drinking water available in the ditch.

The cattle were all good today.

Note: I did attempt to check on the cattle on Friday 8th May at 18:00, but the gate was locked, and the red danger signs were being displayed.