Exercise 'Bracken'

You may have noticed lots of fire service activity on Caesar's Camp today. This was Training Exercise 'Bracken'. They had some big bits of kit for pumping water around the site, with hoses over 1km long!
Hopefully this will aid them in fighting fires in the future.
I caught a glimpse of the cattle as I drove past the site on the Odiham Road, at about 9.15 but then didn't see them all day. They were sensibly keeping out of the way!

Wednesday 13.00, i counted a total of 24 in the whale tail at T7 after a tip off from Richard, they were all grazing and looked o/k,

Tuesday 13.30, i found 27 near Caesars camp at L18, they were all grazing and looked o/k. I later met up with mike who had spotted the remaining 8.

Sunday AM.

Found a large group on 22+ on the slope to the west of Caesars Camp fort P15/16. There are lots of hollows and ridges in this area so an accurate count was not possible.Then found another group of 7 at R17. All those I saw looked fine.

Saw the same 2 groups a bit later. Counted 20 around O17, all sat around chewing the cud. Then found 14 having a good wander and a munch around Long Bottom (200180 came over to see me, and gave me a good sniffing, which was nice)

All well

Found two groups late this afternoon (21 at P15 and 14 at R19). All seemed content despite the mass of fire and army vehicles around the area.

Saturday 10.00, today i found 11 at O19 and 24 in the whale tail at U7, all were grazing and looked o/k.

Terrapins in Horse Pond

Hello. I have had a few reports of terrapins in the Horse Pond.
These are most likely red-eared terrapins, a native of North America, and were probably introduced to the pond when they outgrew their owner's aquarium.
This species can live for up to 40 years in the wild, but it is unlikely that they can breed because our summers don't get warm enough for the eggs to be viable.
The terrapins may damage native plants and animals such as ducklings and fish but this has not been verified.
The Wildlife Trust will probably let them continue to live in the pond as trapping or culling is quite difficult, and they will eventually die naturally.
If you have any other interesting sightings, please let us know!

Wednesday 11.30, found 13 grazing at Q20 and a further 22 at S6 slowly walking into the whale tail all looked o/k.

Tuesday Evening

Now split into 3 groups. Still 5 at P15/16. About 18 by the Horse Pond N24/25 and a further group to the north of Brown Loaf Hill G25/26. All seemed fine.

Tuesday 13.00, i found a group of 30 at roughly J28, most were lying down chewing the cud with a few on their feet grazing, another group of 5 were in the whale tail grazing, they all looked o/k.

Saturday 11.00, i found 9 grazing in the whale tail and i managed to count 23 spread over a large area at roughly G-I 18,19 most were grazing with a few lying down chewing the cud all looked o/k

Went round the reserve today to check the fences, all intact. On my travels found 6 cows (including Collar) moving fast across L 28 then a further 8 across I 28, both sets looked well but were not hanging around. Took a quick trip down the tail to see if anymore were lurking and found a group of 13, all looked well and happily grazing. Unfortunately only a total of 27, however the cows were moving fast and the young birch is definately making finding them a bit harder.

Wednesday 16.30, i managed to find 28 today they were all lying down chewing the cud around the blue barrel, i did notice one with what looked like a patch of ringworm on it,s rear end, there was also a large bush fire at I,J,K 27,28 with the fire brigade in attendance.

Tuesday 16.30, today i managed a count of 19, they were all grazing at roughly R 16, those i saw looked o/k.

Morning call

Driving to work along the Odiham Road soon after 6, saw lots of the cattle well spread out at about T6/7. Most were laying down but a few had started to graze.

Full Count

Two groups today. 12 on the edge of the woodland at about N20. The remainder were spread out across a large area in squares Q 15/16, and R15/16. All looked fine and enjoying the new flush of fresh grass.

Just a handful

Happened to be cycling along Bourley Road at about 7pm and saw 6 at G16. Seemed very perky and rather interested in the cattle grid!
P.S. Sorry for lack of blogs from me recently - gremlins in the PC.

...and the rest.

Saw the 11 Bob spotted at approximately the same place at 1730 grazing at first and then moving quickly NE. Walking on we passed the remaining 10 at ~E28. I think the two groups were about to join up.

Saturday 16.00, i found 14 at the blue barrel all eager to have a lick and a further 11 were grazing at roughly I 27, saw no sign of the others.

Bit of a pea-soupper!

It was a bit murky out there this morning so I was worried about not being able to see them in the mist on my first time out - so I was really pleased, when out of the gloom, a big friendly cow shape came towards me! Found a group of 14 by the big blue barrel (0950). All looked well. Continued walking, but didn't find the rest. On the way back, the barrel 14 had moved off over by the hillocks (1030), so I took the opportunity to climb a hillock and re-count from on high - yep, definitely 14.

Wednesday 11.15, i found a group of 15 in the whale tail at Q4 slowly walking and grazing. another group of 11 were lying down chewing the cud at P21, they all looked o/k. There was no sign of the others.

Full count

Tuesday 09.30, managed to find all of them today, 19 were grazing at roughly M 18, and 16 were near the big blue barrel slowly walking East toward the whale tail, all looked o/k.

Full Count

The cows were still split into two groups this morning. The first 19 were spread out across squares P/Q 17 & 18. The second group of 16 were a little further to the west at roughly Q13. All looked to be fine.

Heathland Fires

Hello everyone,

On Wednesday last week I planned to email you all today to let you know that we will soon be entering the heathland fire season any minute now. Unfortunately we had 2 fires on Caesars Camp, 1 on Velmead Common and 2 on Long Valley all within 5 days of each other before i could get chance to warn you all.

Anyway my warning I suppose is still valid especially if the weather stays as it is. Statistically ( and the fire brigade record all incidents that are reported to them) April has the highest number of fires on heathlands throughout the year. the statistics can even pinpoint that the majority of fires occur between the hours of 3pm and 4pm. Obviously this does not mean all fires occur at these times but the majority of them do.

So what does this mean for you?

Firstly take extra care when walking on the heaths at this time of year, especially if it is dry and then is a breeze.

Secondly, ensure that somebody knows where you are, just in case something happens, and more importantly when you expect to be home.

Always try to carry a mobile phone with you. A fire, if reported early, is much much easier to contain and control than if it is left unreported.

Always call 999 if the fire brigade are not present. please do not assume that somebody else must have and more often than not people will not report anything. The fire services will easily be able to tell you with 30 seconds if there are already fire personnel on their way.

Once you have called 999, please give one of the grazing project a ring to let us know there is a fire. We can liaise with the MoD wardens as to how big the fire is and whether the cattle are in danger and so require moving.

Lastly, and most importantly, do not try to tackle the fire yourself. Heathland fires can appear to be very slow and sluggish and seem quite puny but in fact they are stored up energy ready to ignite the next waiting gorse bush and believe you and me gorse goes up like rocket fuel!

So keep your distance, call 999 and then call us.

I hop[e this helps and hope even more that you never need to take any of these actions.

Elliott

Did the hotspots check this morning, all gates and fences intact. Found 19 of the cows including the big horned black and white in S15. Had a look around the tail for the other 16 but no sign, also took a trip up to the top of Caesars camp and surveyed the fire site. Should be interesting to watch the area and see what regrows over the coming months.

Full count

Saturday 11.30, i found the same 19 as Steve and in the same area all grazing and looked o/k. A further 16 were at roughly M21 and again all grazing.

In the Putty Mines

Found a group of 19 including Collar and Horns in the old pit grazing voraciously at about 0915 this morning. All looked very content. Did not come across the remainder though I did pass signs that some had been between there and Caesar's Camp today.

Fire on Caesar's Camp

Hello

A large (5ha) fire started about 3.30pm today.

I went out to check that the cattle were okay and by the time I got there it was all but out. The cattle were all fine, spread out - but heading in the wrong direction! If you do see a fire, please do not try to fight it - call the fire brigade (and us!) and make sure you are safe.

Thanks

Full count

Wednesday 09.30, managed to find all of them today, they were all grazing at M17 and looked o/k.