Tuesday 30th December

 All good. 3 cows grazing in morning sunshine near the water trough which is fine. EF on with strong pulse and green light. All gates secure. Lovely flock of goldfinches in trees alongside Worthy Road.

Sunday December 28th

Three cows happy and grazing - managed to get quite close to them, no limping or cuts etc. Everything in field seems as it should. 

Tried to upload photos but it didn’t want to work on my phone  

A cold and sunny Saturday 27 December

 Cows at south eastern corner grazing. No concerns . Trough full and EF flashing green. Kestrel hovering above and 3 roe deer running away in the smaller meadow. 

Friday 26th December

 Christmas cover.

All good. 3 cows calmly chewing cud in NW corner. EF on pulsing strong. Picked up 2 plastic bags tied to southern fence. A few family walkers 

Thursday 25th December

 Sunny day with an icy wind. 3 cows laying down below the electric fence, looking quite content.

Electric fence working and trough full, all good.

wedneaday 24th December- staff check

Hi all,

Put an xmas present out for the cows. A mineral lick, exciting stuff! Helps with cattle condition, providing nutrients which are usually lacking over winter.

The eneegiser was pulsing green but the power was low having tested the line. I found it to be shorting on the path end, a fray of line (tiniest bit) was shorting on the fence post. Remedied so hopefully wont happen again.

Thanks all for your support. Have a lovely xmas and peaceful new year :)

Sam

Tuesday 23rd December

 Fairly quiet this morning - getting colder in the wind. 3 cows chewing cud calmly in SE corner.

Water trough okay and EF on with green light and pulsing strongly on my detector.

All gates secure.

Contractor has done a great job with the hedges.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Monday 22nd

 All 3 cows checked and fine, spending a bit more time up in the southern half of the field at the moment, enjoying a respite from the incessant rain! Nice to hear a skylark today (so rare are this time of year) along with Goldfinches, Robins and Long Tailed Tits.

Sun 21 Dec

 All three seemed fine and gathered round the southern gate. #84 very friendly and enjoyed a good scratch behind the ears.

Trough and fence fine.

All good.

Saturday 20 December All’s well

 3 cows lying down together at the south eastern corner of their enclosure. I don’t think they even noticed me creeping down to check the fence. Energiser is flashing green. Trough is full.  Bit of a hike back up the field. 🥵 3 roe deer in the west meadow.

Friday 19th

 Work got away from me today so I didn't manage to get to the cows. I haven't been very good at updating the blog, but I have been out to check on weekly - no concerns at any point, though they're definitely more interested in watching me walk down to the electric fence than the last herd was. 

Will try to be more on the ball with updating the blog when I pop in over the christmas period. 

Thursday 18th December

 Hadrian check - All good, bit wet mind! Trough functioning. Electric fence pulsing green

Wednesday 17th December

 Hi all,

The contractor has cut the central hedge on one side and today will have finished cutting back encroaching vegetation along the permissive path. 

By cutting the central hedge we are maintaining dense thick cover from the spring/summer regen, particularly in the the lower regions of the hedge which will be move favourable to yellowhammers, which tend to nest low and favour hedges 2m and below. The other side of the hedge has been left for spring/summer nectar sources and winter/autumn berry availability. By cutting the hedge on a rotation we create habitat variability. 

Next job is to cut back the footpath along the railway line. Access gets quite limited when the brambles take hold in summer and getting a tractor down there is tricky when cutting the paths. We will widen the track to improve access for the tractors but also for people. 

Because not much of the site has been cut back in the past we are doing a fair bit this year. In future years we will do less on a longer rotation.

On another note I noticed the electric fence energiser was dead, I've replaced this. Please on your rounds check the energiser is working. Its the black box at the end of the electric fence line, it has a light on it that pulses, no light/pulse means it is completely dead, red light/pulse means it is dying, green light/pulse means it is working. Please call me if the green light is not on, it is an internal fence so not urgent but if the line is not live there could be a risk a cow/deer will get in contact with the line more and potentially get tangled (just to caveat it is very unlikely).

Thank you all for your support,

Sam 

Tuesday 16th December

 Viewed 3 cows from a distance as permissive path round the reserve closed for hedge maintenance work today.

Monday 15th December

 Another miserable rainy day, field is very wet underfoot. No issues seen with the cows though, again congregated down near the Worthy Lane exit. Checked trough which was fine.

Saturday 13 December enjoying the sunshine

 The cows seem relaxed today. Grazing, people watching, then a little lie down. 3 roe deer on the other side of the electric fence. Fence is working, and water trough full. 

Wednesday 10th December

 All 3 looked very contented this morning in the sunshine, all laying near to the electric fence. Didn't go into the field today but everything looks fine.

Tuesday 9th November

 Cow #69 very grumpy started bellowing and following me across the eastern meadow from the far side. Perhaps getting fed up of the rain - moving fine!

Paths getting muddy and slippery especially in NE corner. Water trough and fence fine. Two roe deer in western meadow.

Monday 8th December

 Another dreadful day, feels like it's been raining for weeks! The field is becoming pretty boggy underfoot now, again the cows congregated in the Eastern corner next to the Worthy Lane exit. No obvious issues spotted.

I don't seem to be seeing as many deer as I used to, has anyone else noticed this? 

Sun 07 Dec

 All cows fine, trough fine.

#69 (pic below) seemed a bit grumpy, coming up close and waving his head about - but I couldn't spot anything wrong with him.

No concerns.

Saturday 6 December Cows heading east

 The 3 muddy cows were grazing down near the ef, heading eastward. They all looked up at me as I checked the trough. No photos as my camera is playing up. 

Tuesday 2nd December

 Sam - a reminder not able to do next Tuesday (9th).

Also on re reading today's blog I meant the 3 cows are grazing by the EF in their enclosed part of eastern meadow. Apologies for any misunderstanding!

Tuesday 2nd December

 3 cows calmly grazing in winter sunshine by EF at northen end of eastern meadow. EF on. Water troughs fine. Gates secure. Two roe deer in western meadow. Robins, great tits and sparrows busy on the hedgerows otherwise quiet.

Monday 1st December

 On an absolutely miserable day with horizontal rain blowing across the field, the cows were sheltering down by the gate at the Worthy Lane entrance. They looked fine (they're a hardy bunch) and started to walk to the middle of the field following me up the hill, seem to be trying to get into part that's fenced off. It's now flooded on the footpath down there and getting boggy at the cows gate entrance.