the cattle this morning were widespread on the area where there had previously been a fire ,on the right of the track going towards the royal pavillion ,to widespread to tell what grid squares they were in I would think most if not all were there, I was not able to get close enough to get a good look at any of them ,I saw the bull and also 145 she is walking better now but her leg is still bothering her ,while I was watching them a dog started to chase some of them I called it off and when the owner appeared told her she should stop the dog worrying the cattle as it an offence to allow this to happen, she said she knew this and would not let it happen again norman

Grazing (and Graylings)

Was on site today checking some planned works for this winter and saw most of the cattle. There was 36 or so together but loosely spread out around K22, K23, K24 and another 25 or more spread throughout the parkland area with all the oaks around H, I, J 27, 28 29. The bull was with them but showing more interest in eating than keeping all his ladies together. There was one solitary cow just off the top of the ridge from the camp (J20) happily chomping away as she was surrounded by troops with their guns, rucksacks and maps as though she couldn’t even see them! All looked well and very happy. Cow 145 was grazing well and looks healthy. She was putting weight on her foot in order to move around and graze but not putting any weight on it the rest of the time.

The effects of the grazing are really showing in these areas where they were today and they are doing a great job at opening up the sward and breaking down old grass stems and thatch on the ground. I also saw a handful of graylings in the parkland area all basking on the little bare patches created by the cows hooves. These inconspicuous butterflies need this type of bare ground habitat to thrive.

Laura

About 10 AM: half herd near Horse Pond, the other half including bull about 1 mile further down Long Bottom.  All very quiet.

the cattle this morning 7.45 were spread over a wide area both sides of the flooded gravel pit 145 was on the south side walking much better now but still holding her foot up at times not possible to get a count norman.

Only found 2 relatively small groups today. At about 12.00 I found a group of 15 (including the bull) under the trees around the barrel. Found a second group of cows and calves up the hill slightly further up the track from the barrel. Those that I saw all looked well.

Happy Families

I found them spread out around the Horse Pond and in the trees by the blue lick barrel this morning at around 0700. 145 was near the barrel, leaning against a tree, still holding the leg up when she can but putting weight on it when she moves. I wasn't able to get a count but all those I saw looked well. I didn't see the calf with the weepy eye.

The bull was doing some courting down by the pond but the lady was not interested. While I was kneeling down taking some photographs I found I was the subject of interest to one of the calves who crept up and gently butted me. It followed me around for a while until mum came out of the gorse to advise me to go away.

I met Norman (and Crystal) shortly after and chatted for a while until the bull decided he was wasting his time with his latest lady and set off for the lick barrel.

Jill's Friday looker report

Found c. 65 up at R/Q 4/5 first thing today. All were grazing peacefully, the bull included. 145 was gingerly putting her foot on the ground when still or walking slowly and I couldn’t see any with weeping eyes.

Bumped into Norman on the way back who had his camera so perhaps he will have some photos to add.

Jill

I met cattle this morning 7.30 am I counted 29 cows and 19 calves ,11+5 calves were at the blue barrel under the trees ,the rest were on the track above the broken troop shelter ,145 was with them still struggling to walk properly but getting better , did not see the bull it sounded like some more were below the seats at caesars camp all of the ones I was close to looked ok ,145 s calf came and visited my dog again . norman

Brown and White cow with Collar and weeping eye

Following a report from Ivan on a cow with a weeping eye (ear tag ends in 99) I have just spoken to the farmer. He confirmed that the cow has had the problem for about a week now and he has been treating it with the relevant medicine for the last week. So far the treatment has not worked too well so he is going to take the cow off of the site on Thursday unless it makes a miraculous recovery.

I will keep you all posted on this situation.

Elliott

Monday 2pm

Found a small group of c.20 in the small wood to the west of the Horse Pond and a much larger group, including the bull, further west up Long Bottom. Those we saw looked ok.

about 9.30 AM - as far as could be determined all including bull around Horse Pond.

A red-brown calf (last two tag numbers 99) has partially closed and weeping left eye.

Cattle checks and broken gate

Hello everyone.

yesterday (Sunday 19th) I visited the site following a report of a broken gate. The gate was opposite Alexandra road and have been levered out of its kissing gate compartment so was swinging wide open. I fixed the gate and hopefully made it harder to do the same again but we will see. I also replaced the cattle on site sign which had been ripped off.

Whilst on site I found the cows (well 63 of them was all I could count)spread out in squares H30, H31, I30 and I31. They were all laying down and chewing the cudd underneath the oak trees and in the long grasses. It was a lovely site and more than made up for the fact that someone had vandalised our gate.

The bull was with the herd as was cow 145. She was still very lame but at l;east was happy to put her weight on the foot when standing still. We will continue to monitor the cow to ensure she continues to made a recovery as she is every day. If she starts to get worse then we will address the situation with the farmer again and decide what to do next.

Elliott

the cattle this morning were on the bank opposite the horse pond, to spread out to count 145 was not with them ,I would think most of them were there the bull was there trying hard to serve one of the cows ,a light sandy coloured one he had no sucess while I was there . norman

Content Bull

Early this afternoon found about half the herd down at I 30. The bull is a very impressive beast and was lying down chewing the cud contentedly. 145 was with the herd, occasionally gingerly putting her foot on the ground but not putting any weight on it. 170 still has a weepy and cloudy eye. The other cows and the calves seemed fine. Three trial bikes were causing a lot of disturbance.

I found a small group of cattle where they were yesterday by the small pond ,145 was not with them found another small group at grid squares P 14 15 , again 145 was not with them saw the rest were around the arial compound at the beacon hill road end ,I did not attempt to count any of the groups as 145 has been my main concern and will be untill she is better, it took me sometime to get to them as it is way off my normal walk 8 00 am before I got to them ,I was pleased to see 145 was trying to put weight on her right front leg still difficult to walk but improving,I did not notice the bull but if he was with the large group he did not bother with me there is one calf I think it is 145,s comes and plays with my little jack russel I must take my camera and take a photo norman.

Bull on site and cow 145

Hello everyone,

i have just spoken to Rob, the owner of the cattle at Caesars Camp, to have an update on the cow with the sore leg. He confirmed that he has completed the course of antibiotics to reduce the infection. he even tried to give the cow an extra injection just to make sure but could not catch it so is happy that the cow is on its way to recovering.

He also informed me that upon visiting this morning to check on the cow with the sore leg he has delivered a bull onto the site to spend the next 8/9 weeks with the cows. This is all part of an extremely exciting plan of creating beef from your local heath and then being able to sell it in a local shop which is something the Grazing Project has been aiming at for the last three years.

Because the bull has so many cows to entertain him he should be very calm and docile. If anything it will be the cows that get a little bit more excited having him around! Having said that he is obviously a bull and is therefore very much larger than the rest of the cows. Accidents can always happen so please make sure you keep you safe distance and observe from afar.

Now that a bull is on site it is even more important the the signs are in place on the gates and that they are replaced as and when they are vandalised. I know a number are missing at present so will visit the site today and replace those with new signs.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask

Elliott

A plea for new members

Hello everyone,

Because of the current recession and the stresses and difficulties that this poses upon us as individuals and as a charity, we are really trying to raise our membership levels to help us through these difficult times. The money that is raised through membership recruitment is extremely important for the Wildlife Trust as it is classified as unrestrictive which means it can be spent on any conservation task we like with no strings attached.

I have recently uploaded a copy of our membership form which gives you all the information you need to join the Wildlife Trust and also gives you some extra information that our charity does outside of your area as well as details all of the benefits you will receive from being a member.

If you are not already a member please do just take five minutes to have a look at the link on the right hand side of the blog called 'www,hwt.org.uk'. If you would like to join, excellent, or if you feel you know of anyone else that would like to join then please forward the link to them and help us spread the word.

I do hope that you don’t mind me blogging this but we were all told yesterday at a staff meeting that we need to do more to gain members as they are so crucial to the Trusts future so this is the start of my efforts.

Best wishes

Elliott

I found the cattle this morning 7.45 am they were at the area around the small pond where the steep drop signs are ,145 was with them I noticed when she was grazing she was resting her foot on the ground now ,didn,t appear to be putting any weight on it ,but still limping badly when walking not putting her right front leg on the ground at all norman

Site checks 14/7

I checked all the sites yesterday and despite being at Caesar's Camp for a couple of hours I only sighted about 20 cattle in total. I kept meeting the same group who were all over the site on the move, from H23 to C26, then onto H18 and finallly at Q16

Cow 145 was not with any of the little groups I saw so I was unable to check its foot.

I fixed the fence by the field gate at the covered resevoir which had been cut a bit and trampled down.

Plently of water about for now in streams and pools

Laura

Cow 145 treatment with antibiotics

Good morning.

Rob, the farmer, has been out to check the cow (145) with the swollen leg last week and this weekend.
It has an infection in the cleft of the foot which is causing swelling in the foot and shin. It has been administered antibiotics on Thursday (9th) and Friday (10th) of last week and will be given another dose today. This will complete the course, so we should start to see an improvement this week.

If there is no improvement then the cow will be taken off site for further treatment.

Thank-you for your reports on this

Laura

Update

I think I found the same group as James a few hours later - they were still well spread out. The limping cow was struggling to graze and clearly couldn't put any weight on her leg. I did see 171 still with a very weepy and cloudy eye. I think there were some of the new calves in the group - they are very skittish and leggy.

1130-1200-ish. Found a large group of 63 spread around O/P 21/22. Plus an advance party of 3 at S16.

Cow 145 was with the large group. When I arrived she was sitting with the bad leg straight out infront of her - the knee and shin looking badly swollen. When she stood to give one of the calves a feed, she was holding the bad leg up with it just swinging and floppy.

Other than 145, all the others looked in good health. I didn't see any weepy eyes.

Cow 145

Hello everyone,

We have had over the past couple of days numerous reports of cow 145 which is very lame with a swollen shin. Each report we have had we have passed onto the grazier who has taken the information of board. I spoke to them again today and stressed the fact that so many people are ringing in with concerns and he said he would go down again to try to catch the cow and remedy the problem. This will be the second time the famer has tried to catch this cow in the past week or so as it managed to be too quick, despite its injury, for the farmers to herd last time. I will keep you posted as to how this situation continues.

Thanks

Elliott

I found the cattle this morning at 7.30 am they were mostly at the seats at caesars camp, a few were at the bottom of the slope where then first big fire was ,I did not attempt to count any of them I was to intent on finding the one with the limp, I met another looker told him what I was looking for and together we found her her ear tag no is 145 this is the same one I phoned alex about a few weeks ago only she is now worse than the first report ,she is not attempting to put her right foot on the ground at all ,having worked with cattle in my younger days she bothers me I am thinking of stopping looking for them I think she needs some serious attention the other looker I met said he would report his sighting as well norman

I found the cattle this morning 7.30 am they were spread over grids g h i 27 28 29 ,not possible to count as they were in the regrowth ,I would say they were all there ,I had a real close look at the one with the limp ,I got to about 20 mtrs of her looking through my bino's I had a good look at her face all looked clear , her rear end looked ok , her udder was ok , but her right front leg is giving her trouble she was lying on her left side but could not rest ,she kept moving her right leg and for some reason kept turning her head and resting it on her right shoulder after a while she got up but did not move I watched them all for 30 mins then moved on norman

17.00, i found a group of at least 55 at roughly G25-26,F26,most were lying down chewing the cud, yet again counting them was very difficult as the little ones are hidden in the grass, did not see any limping cow.

Injured cattle

Hello
Norman phoned in this morning to report a badly limping cow, and we have had other reports of weeping and sore eyes.
The farmer had already been up and will treat the eyes of the cattle with antibiotics. He will leave the limping cow for the time being as she is managing to keep with the rest of the herd and he doesn't want to make the problem worse by having to catch her.
In addition he has increased the number of cows and calves by 4 of each.
Thanks for all your help.
Alex

16.00, a very wet day up on Caesars camp today, that aside i managed a positive count of 52 but there could have been more. they were grazing at roughly J29-I30, they all looked o/k and were slowly moving East.

About 10.00 AM - all at top end of Long Bottom and all seemed to be in good order.

Those who enjoy the relative peace and quiet of the heath should note that TAG (the operators of Farnborough airport) have applied to double the number of aircraft movements.  The application is made to Rushmore Borough Council (RBC) on whose website further details can be found.  Any comments/objections should be made to RBC by 27 July.

17.00, i found 8 ( 4 cows 4 calves ) at P19, and a positive count of 51 at roughly G25-26. there could have been all of the main herd but spotting the calves in the grass is not easy. There was the remains of a smoldering heath fire at the top of Caesars camp which i reported to the fire brigade.

I found the cattle this morning 7.30 am they were under the trees at the blue barrels I stood watching, about 50 yds from them for about 15 mins ,most were lying down all close together not possible count but I would think most ,if not all were there coming back from my walk I noticed they had split up some heading towards the horse pond others heading west walking slowly and grazing as they went. norman

10.30, today i found at least 45 in the woods at M21 although a positive count was impossible most were lying down resting from the heat, a further 8, 4 cows 4 calves were under the trees at P17, 2 of the cows got very protective as i got within 20' of them so i did not venture any closer.
I noticed both ponds still have a lot of water in them.

I found cattle this morning 7.30 am I counted 18 cows 15 calves 9 cows were in grid squares k-l 16-17 rest were in squares m-n 19-20 all appeared to be contented most of the calves were lying down norman