Saturday 14th February - All 25 seen

The cattle were all seen in three groups today - two on Caesar's and one on Gelvert.

Cows 72, 214, and 234, along with youngsters 220 and 222, were happily resting in the sunshine to the south of James Bond Pond. They were all very friendly, coming over to say hello and enjoy plenty of strokes and rubs. 

Cow 940, along with steers 219, 228, and 1626 were grazing along the side of the path to the north of James Bond Pond. The remaining ten members of the Caesar's original herd were grazing in the pasture to the north of the bank. I spent a good while with them, and they were all happy, relaxed, and looking well. Youngster 219's ear looks clean and continues to heal slowly. 

The sunshine had brought the six Sussex cattle out of hiding, and they were all lying down, relaxing and chewing their cud. They were all happy to be approached and thoroughly enjoyed neck and back scratches. Steer 197 and cow 212 both got up and wandered over for extra back scratches. Cow 211 was especially affectionate, offering licks and gentle head rubs. It was lovely to see them and spend a quiet hour with them.

Full update and photos to follow in a while.

The cows were all good today

210 found

Returned to site, found 210 where all the others were earlier near to wherr we set up crush etc in Gelvert. 

He is with 1640. So all 25 seen today! 

15.26 

Zoe 

Friday 13th - Hunt for the missing Sussex's! 24 seen, 210 Still at large!

Hi All, onsite this morning to track down the missing Sussex's! 

10.00am 

They were practically stood by the gate as I came onto site! (Gelvert side) Nice to meet Graham too . 

1640 - hooves are quite long

1396 - SUS

212 - SUS

211 -SUS no collar 

197 - SUS

Graham had seen 19 cows earlier in the morning. 

This means 24 have been seen and 210 SUS still to be seen. 

I had to cut our chat short (sorry Graham!) As I was meeting Landmarc to collect 3 no fence collars. 

11.31 

On the hunt for 210! I circled back round and caught up with the five from earlier. Still only 5. 

11.51 

19 found all sleeping together near the sand bar as Graham saw earlier. 

So thats 24 seen today and 5 out of 6 sussexs 

210 still needs to be seen, last seen 8th Feb

Have spoken to Ned, we are going to try and rally a few people to search again this afternoon. Will keep you posted 

Zoe 

Friday 13th - 24 seen

 Between 08:30 - 10:45

19 have been found just west of the sandy bowl near ///snow.fits.escape. All were busy eating gorse with some still searching for acorns. Whilst I could see 219 he was too far into the gorse to get a good look at his ear. Sussex 1626 had become separated from the main group. I managed to get him to follow me back to the rest of the group. When I left most of them were heading in the direction of the horse pond.

I decided to drive along the Bourley Road in the hope of seeing the missing 6 Sussex’s. Then up Beacon Hill Road where I managed to catch site of one of them. Zoe was also there. We saw 5 of the 6 with only 210 still to be seen. The white truck is like a magnet as 4 came running towards it.

It was lovely to meet Zoe this morning having previously spoken a couple of times on the phone.

All the cattle were good this morning.

Thursday 12th February - 19 seen - 3 trackers found are with TEPS in Pirbright

 11:11 Sandy hill estate Brie is here with 5 SH and a BW rain is staring now grazing gorse bushes. Fire truck inspecting the pathway gone now

11:24 Brie has escaped the SH mooed at me and stormed off towards the water tower I wonder what has happened I don’t think she is happy normally she is calm and ignores me 

She’s bellowing  from the trees at the west end of Sandy hill ///personal.hazel.fills but no response the others are by James Bond pond she’s gone the other way to the water tower she doesn’t show up on the tracker. She is on tracker now back with the SH on Sandy Hill path 

11:43 I’m over by James Bind Pond with the main group this group of 12 including 1 SUS. All well SH mooing away for the other SH 

Found a tracker 238537 fallen off by JBPond.

I wondered all around the lookout to find the missing 6 SUS, couldn’t find them.

met a TEPS officer based in Pirbright he says they have 2 other trackers back at the office so I gave him the one I found. Could the trackers be collected from the MOD? 

I checked from the Lookout over to Horse Pond, no sign of the SUS. Got MOD training on the Heathland so noisy and busy there. Didn’t have time to get over to the Sandy bowl would’ve wanted to search there but couldn’t. 

Hope we can find them, miss them loads 🤎🤎

Wednesday 11th February - 19 seen - Steer 271 has been fitted with the wrong left ear tags, and is carrying those belonging to steer 217.

At 15:15 this afternoon, the eighteen members of the original Caesar’s herd, along with Sussex steer 1626, were spread out grazing in the pasture near ///plugs.tribes.chairs, northwest of Horse Pond. Most were enjoying plenty of heather along the hillside, while others browsed deep in the gorse bushes. They were all very friendly, coming over to say hello and enjoy plenty of strokes and rubs.

By 15:30, rain had set in and most of the cattle had moved to shelter under the trees to the northwest. Youngsters 219, 222, 228, and 230 were their usual friendly selves, returning for long neck and back scratches. A little later, cow 72 and yearling 271 — who had both continued grazing out in the open — wandered over for some attention. They seemed pleased to have the rain brushed from their backs and sides, with their coats ruffled to help them dry.

It was reassuring to see that steers 30 and 219 still had a good amount of antiseptic spray visible on their ears, despite the heavy rain since they were treated yesterday. I also noticed that yearling 271 appears to have been fitted with the wrong left ear tags, as he is currently carrying those belonging to youngster 217. I have informed the Grazing Team.

I said my goodbyes just after 16:15, leaving the group grazing among the thicket beneath the trees. They were all happy, relaxed, and in good condition.

Despite searching in the rain until dark, I was once again unable to locate the elusive six Sussex cattle. Hopefully, they will reappear from their hiding place soon.

The cows that were found were all good today.

Tuesday 10th February - 19 seen

A few photos of the cattle taken before we gathered them to fit missing collars and replace batteries.

At 10:10 this morning, steers 21, 217, 219, and 1626, along with cow 234, were foraging for acorns and browsing gorse beside the nursery near Hungry Hill. Unfortunately, youngster 219’s ear injury was not looking great today, although he was otherwise fine. His ear was later treated with antiseptic spray, and he was given antibiotics to help address any infection.

By 10:30, steers 20, 30, 222, 227, 228, and 230, together with cows 72, 214, and 940, were grazing in the thicket to the southeast of the Sandy Bowl. They gradually made their way down to the sandy area to rest and chew their cud. There was a significant military presence to the west, with multiple armoured vehicles in the area. Despite this, the cattle were very friendly, coming over to say hello and enjoy plenty of strokes and rubs.

At 12:20, steers 33 and 35 were standing under the trees to the northeast of the water tower. They were both resting and chewing their cud and looked well.

Finally, at 12:45, youngster 220 and yearlings 270 and 271 were resting in the bracken on the hillside near ///stolen.almost.revolts, approximately 260 metres east of the covered reservoir. Yearling 271 soon stood up to enjoy a long neck and back scratch. All three were happy, content, and looking well.

As noted in Zoe’s post, despite an extensive search of both Caesar’s and Gelvert, we were unable to locate the six remaining Sussex cattle today.

Aside from youngster 219's ear injury, the cows who were found were all good today.