Came upon six in gully some 200 yds NW of Horse Pond at about 11 AM.  Two hours later they had moved half way to the "Camp".

Found a group of 12 this morning who had surrounded 3 soldiers on Sandy hill Q19, the cattle didnt seeem to be at all bothered with the company. Did not see any activity on Gelvert area.

A frustrating afternoon, only found 11 cows, in small groups.
ear tags- 87, 95 62, 56 and 57 up by beacon hill entrance.
81, 82, and 91 up on Sandy Hill
65, 63, 67 deep in the holly and bramble by hungry hill.
If anyone is able to get ear tag numbers of the ones they see, that would be brilliant. Hopefully we'll fill in the gaps!

Tuesday am

A lovely morning to be out checking cows...

Myself and fellow SPA Warden Jo were at Caesar's Camp this morning for a stroll around. Like Marian we met 16 up on the camp top. All seemed happy, munching away. I think this one should have the tag "7":

We had a bonus spot of these 9 over the fence in Gelvert compartment too:

Sarah

Tuesday pm

A small group of 8 cattle none of which I recognised at O14/15. Is this a new herd? Also, another group of 16 old friends at L16/17. Both groups grazing quietly. Most of the larger group lying down.

Saw 6 (4 black, 2 white) in the large pit at western end of the heath early afternoon today.

Easter Monday pm

No sightings, but I could hear a lot of scrambler activity around the area the cows were reported to be this morning.

Easter Monday am

14 cattle seen at O22. All seemed quiet after a really windy night.
Very little in the way of storm damage seen. A few small branches broken and paths scattered with debris, but nothing dangerous observed.

Sunday pm

half an hours walk in the late afternoon sunshine. No cattle spotted, but the deer were still there around R15. Also what I think is a red kite circling around the verges along Sandy Hill. Large forked tail, "fingers" on wing tips and bright red colouring on back. Beautiful!

Just a couple

On the way back from Gelvert found two lying amongst the trees at P27.  I looked around for others but they seemed to be on their own, though I did find an impressive group of badgers' setts closely by.

Good Friday wildfire

Yesterday saw the first wildfire of the season unfortunately.  It was near the horse pond and was dealt with by Rushmore fire service.  Good images on their Twitter account.

If you happen to see fires on site please do not hesitate to call 999.  They will never think you are wasting your time.

Elliott

Friday

walked long loop from Sandy Hill to Caesars Camp and back but no sign of cattle. Two small dark brown deer seen on edge of path. May have been muntjac. Certainly smaller than the reddish brown deer I have seen before.

 This morning I visited both Cearsers camp and Gelvert area's. I didnt see any activity or sightof the cattle on the camp area however I counted 11 cattle down by the lower pond 10f not far from the campsite.

Thursday

12 cattle spotted grazing in K/L 20. All seemed quiet and content as I looked down on them from the Caesar's Camp lookout.

Tuesday am

Eight relaxed and grazing amongst the trees and bushes around I32. They didn't give me and the dog a second glance.

9 up by bench on main Caesars camp.

I had a site visit with mod today looking at works carried out over winter and assessing the sites capacity for reptiles.  All good stuff.

During the meeting we came across 9 of the herd up on the main camp.  Their ear tags were 

64

75

56

63

84

71

40

82

67

They all looked great and were well behaved in front of the MOD, good cattle.

Elliott

Sorry to have missed you today Ian. Two of the SPA wardens were onsite this morning till lunchtime and we were very chuffed to find all 22! There were 9 up on camp top, the two ginger ones were munching heather not far from the Odiham Road gate, about S9, and the other 11 blacks were not far away.

Gorse was definitely on the menu...

I've put the gingers on our Facebook blog...

https://www.facebook.com/thamesbasinheathspartnership/

Monday Afternoon

I found 8 of the heard up on the camp top (K18) very quickly but took me a little while to find another group of 13 tucked into the gorse near to beacon hill (R10). Gave the 13 a lick. All look well and happy. One absent again. I retrieved all tag numbers so should anyone find the absent tag that would be great. 10063. All looking content and relaxed. Ian

Apologies

I meant the Crescent, not Rowhills Ave.  Thanks.

Broken gate

Crossing Caesar's this afternoon on the way to Gelvert, I found a broken hand gate at the entrance from Rowhills Avenue (about P28) - the gate next to which the kind litter picker leaves the bags.  It had somehow been forced completely open and the gate itself is now outside the frame and will not close.  I do hope the cows don't venture down there. 

Afternoon walk

Walking this afternoon we quickly found 10 cows grazing quietly on the slope close to Sandy Hill. A little later we nearly missed a further 11 hiding amongst the gauze beside the path at about Q14. I expect the final cow was somewhere amongst one of these groups but its easy to miss one.
There was a scrambler, perhaps two, making a lot of noise over to the east, for a brief period, but we didn't get close enough to see.

Sunday - 20 March -  7.30am  -  14 cattle seen in area L15/16 & K15/16 - no issues - all grazing

Sunday am

Two lone cows crossed the track in of us around M27 and headed off into the trees on the side of Hungry Hill.

Late post from Friday

10 seen at R20. All seemed quiet and well.
Sorry for late posting. Obviously over excited about collection of the beef box!

Late post

Found at least 18 at T6 late on Thursday evening - well spread out and deep in the undergrowth, grazing mainly on brambles and shrubs.  Those I saw looked fine.

By 11 AM this group had been joined by others making 18 (counted) on west slope of Bricksbury/Sandy Hill above Horse Pond.

Tuesday am

Five grazing on the slope of Sandy Hill to the south of the Horse Pond. They seemed quite content.

Monday Afternoon

A drive to the top of the escarpment quickly gave away the position of six of the crew all laid up and cudding directly north in the valley. After driving round and walking across the wet flushes to get their tag nos, I put up a jack snipe on my return to the van. Smaller than a snipe these, waders can be found on mires and other wet habitats where they feed. Apart from the size difference they look very similar to the larger snip but their real give away is their behaviour when flushed. Snipe tend to both call and move a distance from where flushed often out of site before returning to the ground, where as Jack snipe are harder to flush, relying on their camouflage where possible, and returning to the ground very quickly if they are flushed. After a short drive the other sixteen of the cows were found off of long bottom to the north. Both lots were given a lick and all seem to be in good health and certainly looking like they are beginning to put weight on now.

At 12 noon came across group of 13 to west of main track running Caesar's Camp to Pavilion and half way between Camp and Skirmishing Hill.  Most lying: some grazing.

Sunday 9:45am

No sightings of cattle, but three riders on scramble bikes, making a lot of noise, on the tracks along the north side of Long Bottom

Saturday 12th - 6.00pm - Popped out after doing some work on Velmead and found 21 of 22 around Q18.

I called them all in with some left over nuts as I had them all together, but still only counted 21 of 22. Will need another look early next week for a full house. The 21 were in good health.

Sunday 13th March - Caesar's Camp - 730am  six cattle seen across the top of area, all separated from each other as if they had been disturbed. Two of the cows were calling out to find location of others.
John Hurst.

Saturday

21 cattle seen around grid ref P15. In two groups - one of 8 and the other 13. All grazing some lying down. All seemed happy.

Saturday am

There might be some cows out there somewhere.

This report is for my walk of Thursday 10March. I saw the whole of the new herd in the area of14/15 H and 6 of the  old  around O 16 some of both groups were enjoying  the lick blocks.

Wednesday 9:15

At least 12 amongst the bushes and trees on Sunny Hill. The ones I could see looked well.

11.00 - about 15 round Horse Pond.  One hour later group spread wider and up slope of BricksburyHill.

14 seen

I saw 14 cows  at N16 (71, 62, 40, 56, 65, 67, 95, 75, 83, 82, 57, 68, 81 and 70) gave them a lick. Searched the whole site, but couldn't find the other 8, so they are obviously hiding in the sunshine somewhere!

Monday 3pm

4 cattle grazing at Q16. No others seen.

Sunday 9am

9 cattle seen grazing peacefully at L17. Lovely morning.

From John Hurst - visit site 7.30am to 8.45am -  eight cattle on the top of Caesar's Camp - all grazing.
No issues.  Sunday 6 March.

16 found this afternoon  2 - 3 pm. 8 near Bricksbury Hill approx N 16/17 although there could have been more, as they were well into the gorse. Another 8 on the side of the hill close to the track by Sandy hill - approx P 23/24. All looked calm and well.
Martin Andrews

Friday afternoon walk

No cattle seen on long loop from Sandy Hill to the lookout at Caesars Camp and back keeping to high ground.
Boy on scrambler bike along Sandy Hill. Unconcerned when I mentioned the possibility of his being prosecuted.

Sorry Guy, senior moment yesterday in that I forgot to post the fact that I didn't see any cattle on my walk yesterday.
However  this morning I did see  about 12  in the area of the trig point.

16 cattle moved into heath next door

Hello all.

I moved 16 cattle onto the Heath to the north of Caesars Camp, known to us as Gelvert catchment Area.

I hope the two herds learn to acknowledge but avoid one another but I am nervous bearing in mind the last time we tried to run the two herds separately.  

Depending on how this goes we may need to run them as a single herd, flitting between the two sites as and when we move them, or a single herd grazing both sides at the same time with the fence in between taken down.

Time will tell.

Elliott

late afternoon sighting

Found 12 plus grazing on the slopes around the bottom track just west of the horse pond.  It was getting dark so I couldn't count confidently and they were spread over a large area, but those I saw looked content and well.

Damaged fence

There is a broken post around I/J 32 where a fallen tree is lying across the fence. The fence is still intact and upright.

Wednesday morning - 7.30am -  8.30am  Five cattle seen on top of Caesar's Camp - no issues of concern