Saturday 31/1/26

 Cows were quite close to the trough so I walked slowly down the meadow with the 3 of them watching closely. As I neared them they resumed grazing. Trough was full. EF giving a good zap. By the time I was near the education centre all 3 cows were on the southern side of the meadow. Looking good. 

Friday 30th January

All 3 cows moved from education area to main field. 

Thursday 29th January

 Hadrian check - Cows, trough and electric fence all okay

Wednesday 28th January

 Nice to see the sun today. The 3 cows were laying down, chewing the cud and looking quite content.

Trough full, electric fence working.

Monday 26th January

 Grounds surround the field are now heavily waterlogged but the new area for the cows is much better (on a slope) understandably. No issues seen, water is full in the temporary trough. A lot of Skylark activity over the fields for the first time in a while.

Saturday 24 January

 Cows grazing together when I arrived. All stopped to watch me walking up to check the fence(Green light pulsing). Water trough full. By the time I got to the bench for coffee the cows were lying down. Saw some buzzards and a flock of goldfinches 

Thursday 22nd work party

Hello all, 

The three cattle are all fine, electric fence working, trough full and bowser about 1/4 full. 

Today myself, Kirsty and four volunteers braved the weather to dig up the remaining buddleia in the education area with pickaxes and iron bars; cut back the clematis and bramble along the ed area fence and recently flailed hedge; and fixed some broken rails in the race between the east and west fields. 

Thursday 22nd January

HAdrian check. All cows where they should be and looking good.

Water and electric fence working.

Wednesday 21st January

Very wet and windy day.The cows were grazing and moving well.

Trough full and electric  fence working.

Tuesday 20th January

 Cows calmly grazing in centre of the field. EF good strong pulse and water trough working okay. Morning sunshine brought out more dog walkers than usual otherwise very quiet regarding wildlife.

Sat 17 Jan

 Was passing the cows, so checked on them.

The cows seem fine - scratching, but the red patches seemed no worse. 

The fence was working fine - it's on the highest setting, which might make it discharge more quickly, but I didn't adjust it. 

The bowser seems around 30% full, so may need topping up soon. The drinker trough was full, but I couldn't work out how the filler system works as the ball valve doesn't seem to float.

All good. I'll check again tomorrow.

Friday 16h Jan

 Three cows, electric fence seemed to be working fine (as far as my limited knowledge of electric fences goes), and blue trough nice and full. Super muddy and slippery on the dip of the hill.

Next week (19-25) I will be unable to do the visit, and the week after I will be in the office Thursday and Friday (29-30), but could switch for any other day if anyone can do it.

Wednesday 14th Jan - Staff check

 Hi all,

Quick visit from me. Cows looking okay, when I saw them last week they had quite exposed and red skin from scratching so much on the small trees, this seems to have lessened now. It could still be mites and when a weather window of opportunity arises we will inspect further and treat accordingly.

The fence was pulsing a little low and I found it to be shorting on some vegetation so that has been cleared. The trough seems to be working effectively and the cows look like they have hardly drunk anything having had a look in the large blue tank.

Few skylarks singing in the large meadow. Flock of 30 or so pipits in the meadow too. Kestrel flew over head. Other than that a rather quite afternoon on the reserve.

All the best,

Sam

Wednesday 14th January

 Very foggy today, tracked down the cows happily grazing, no problems seen.

Trough full and electric fence fully working.

Tuesday 13th January

 Wet!!!

Cows didn't seem to mind the heavy rain and calmly grazing inside the electric fence in the education field. Water bowser and trough fine. 

All gates secure EF has a weak pulse..

Lots of large puddles and slippery mud underfoot after the recent frosts. Definitely a wellie walk! Needless to say not many people out today except a couple of hardy dog walkers.

Mon 12th January

 I checked on the cows in the new cordoned off area today, no obvious issues with the cows and the water trough is fine. Absolutely miserable day! Apologies for late post. 

Volunteer needed for today’s check on cows

 Could anyone look in on the cows today please as I can’t do my usual visit. 

Fri 9th staff update, cattle mites?

Hello all, 

We were just checking the new trough was working in the education area (it is) and saw that the cattle are scratching a lot on the trees and have some bare patches on their rumps. We suspect they have mites and we've made the grazing team aware. 

So no need for you to report the bare patches unless they much worse. 

Thanks, 

Tom and Sam 

Thursday 8th Jan staff update and cattle move

Happy new year folks, 

The three cattle have been moved into the education area. We have set up a bowser with a trough attached, so please can you check it as you would any other; clear off ice, full/filling properly, upright, etc.

The energiser for the electric fence in the education area as on the northern boundary at ///tidying.trump.cabin .

Please can you check this fence is live. (The fence in the east/big field is no longer live.)

You can more easily cross the fence by loosening this yellow insulator hook and lowering the fence. 

In addition to the cattle move, our volunteers have braved today's weather to start digging out the buddleia in the ed area. This is an invasive, non-native species, so we don't really want it on the reserve! (Butterflies do love it, but the bottleneck for butterflies thriving is their caterpillar food plant, not adult nectar sources. As the buddleia is non-native, nothing has evolved to eat its leaves.)

Clematis removal has also continued along the fence lines. 

Thanks for you help all, 

Tom

Tuesday 6th Jan. Forgot to say thank you

 Forgot to say a big thank you to Chris for going out early to the water trough. Made it much easier to scoop out the blocks of ice mid day. Hope by now the ground is less icy in front of the trough. 

Anne

Tuesday 6th January

 Waited until late morning after snowfall. 3 cows near water trough in the sun and exposed grass. All seemed okay. Cleared ice from the water trough though very icy on the ground in front of the trough. Water flow okay. EF on good pulse on detector and green light flashing.

Tue 06 Jan

 I went out to break the ice again and to work the ball valve loose. The cows seem fine - they seem to be moving carefully over the frozen ground (especially around the trough which is just ice now), but I don't think that's a cause for concern.

Mon 5th Jan

 Trough ice is very thick - well done for breaking it open Chris! I can break it open first thing tomorrow if the other looker isn't there early.  I thought the green ear tag cow (see pic) was moving quite lethargically, maybe the cold? Chris P mentioned that yellow ear tag has been quite aggressive, I was 20 yards away but didn't have the same experience today.

 

Mon 05 Jan

 I popped out early to knock the ice off the drinking trough (you're welcome, Dan!) and checked the supply pipe is running (which it is).

Sun 04 Jan

 The three cows were fine and the fence was working well.

The trough had a 2" thick layer of ice across it. I had a hammer with me, and so I knocked it all through - I recommend the other lookers take a hammer with them, during the coming cold days. All three cows came over and drank straight away. I worked the ball valve loose and the trough refilled.

Lovely still morning. Three roe were lying in the sun in the western enclosure.

 

Saturday 3/1/26

 Cows grazing near the EF which gave me a decent zap when I checked it. Once again I didn’t check the trough as I don’t know whether the cows can move quicker than me should the need arise. One of the cows had a drink from the trough and his mouth was right near the top so there must have been plenty of water. I sat on a bench on the far side drinking coffee and watching the cows with binoculars. One of the boys looked right back at me.

Thursday 1/1/26

 Out for a walk so I looked in on the cows. Initially resting and watching me walk the perimeter, then grazing. EF giving a nice zap when tested with grass. Didn’t check the trough as the cows weren’t far from it. The one in the small meadow was full, if that helps at all!  Ravens and stonechats are about and the three roe deer.