Sunday 30th August - All 4 seen

At 15:20 this afternoon, the cattle were resting in the woodland east of the large pool by the fire hydrant sign, near ///doubt.could.activism. A light shower was passing over, so they had sensibly taken shelter among the trees. I had parked in the Velmead Woods car park at that end of the site and, as I made my way along the path outside the boundary, steer 200 spotted me. He soon got to his feet and came over to the fence line to say hello, with the other three quickly following his lead. As I continued along the path towards the kissing gate to enter the site, the four of them wandered alongside me, before giving me a much warmer welcome once I was inside.

After our initial greetings, the cattle gathered around me, content to stand and chew their cud, occasionally stepping forward for a few head strokes. After a while, steer 200 leaned in for a longer shoulder rub before shuffling forward into position for a long back scratch. While steer 200 was being fussed over, the others stood beside me, continuing to chew their cud and occasionally stopping to snack on the surrounding gorse and leaves. By 15:50, cow 201 had drifted off into the pasture to the southwest to graze, with the boys gradually following her one by one. I said my goodbyes at 16:05, leaving them all peacefully grazing among the bracken as some late afternoon sunshine broke through. All four were happy, relaxed, and looking well.

Before leaving, I returned to the fire hydrant sign to check the water levels. There was still plenty of drinking water available, both in the main pool and in the surrounding run-off areas.

The cattle were all good today.