Found Caesar's Camp awash with motorcycle meets, (both official and unofficial), professional dog walkers, families with and without dogs, runners, running clubs, and cyclists. But no cows. I asked everyone I passed, and only one thought she had seen a couple of cows "big brown ones" in the thicket at the top of Caesar's Camp, but I couldn't find them. I think the cattle are hiding deep in the trees and gorse to escape the noise and hurly-burly of New Year! Sorry I couldn't find any today!

Thursday and Friday

Spent a couple of hours driving round site on Thursday afternoon but despite much effort could only find 12. 

Popped back out this morning and after an hour or so i found the last one along with a small group.

All look good, very wet out there though.

Thursday afternoon

Crisp,cold and beautiful this morning. Just 6 or 7 cows seen in the valley between the Lookout and the Horse Pond. They looked contented.
Interestingly there was a young man riding around on a small and noisy motorbike but we were pleased so he, and his mother, stopped by an army ranger, who was talking to them.
Hope everyone had as good a Christmas as we did!

Thursday morning

8 scattered in the cleared area of Long Bottom.

Christmas morning

At 9.00am 7 cattle seen on path near Sandy Hill. All sound and munching happily. Four blacks, two brown and one brown and white. Did a circuit up to the lookout and no others seen.
Happy Christmas, Caesars Camp Lookers!

Christmas Eve am

3 grazing amongst the bracken on the side of Hungry Hill. Looked OK.

Tuesday Morning

All seen near to the flooded wood lake all looking good.

Late morning - nine at northern end of Sandy Hill doing nothing very much.

Sunday am

Just a single cow (93) walking along the track at I27, no sign of his mates.

Saturday 9:00am

The entire herd grazing as they slowly moved along the sunny side of Long Bottom. They were heading in the direction of the Horse Pond, which was 50% clear of ice. All looked OK.

All seen

Saw 4 initially up next to Sandy Hill estate and then no others. Some time later though the whole herd came together on the opposite slope from Sandy Hill. All seen and looking well.

I put a lick out for them in that area at Q20 to the NW side of the junction of paths.

Saturday am

6 Shetlands  warming up in the sun, next to the Pavillion fence. All looked fine.

Tuesday 5th December - All Found.

Found all thirteen cattle together up on Sandy Hill. They were all looking on fine form and were excited to see the mineral lick that I put out for them.

They've put a bit of pressure on the fence line in 23R where it goes round the corner by the apple tree. I extended the second, higher strand of barbed wire to try and dissuade them so we'll see how that goes!

Friday afternoon,10 of 13 found

Wrapped up well against the chilly wind, I found 10 of the 13 down near the Tweseldown road, munching away on the heather. Looks a bit tough to me, but then I'm no cow (some might disagree...). All looking hale and hearty as usual. I've no idea where the other three were, they didn't seem to be near the 10 but they might have been lurking in the bushes, who knows.

The ones I didn't see were 23, 30 and 40, if anyone is counting.

Number 72 removed

We have removed number 72 off site  this morning. Cheers Josh

Spotted some by the horse pond and by the time I drove down there they had regrouped with the rest. Bonus!

072 - causing quite a few problems of late. 3 escapee attempts. In discussions about removing .

 

I put down a lick about 20 yards off the main track. Its a small blue bucket in case you see it and wonder what the hell that is?!

 

Herd looking well. No concerns to report.

 

 

13 on Sandy Hill

Tue 28 Nov 3:30ish.

Just had a brisk litter pick along Sandy Hill.  13 cattle strung out along the path.  Unfortunately they decided my bag of litter was food and I nearly got mowed down by the front runners.

All looked well and grazing contentedly (apart from the evident disappointment of not getting cattle nuts).

Fab day for a walk

Having been away for a while and not able to blog, it was great to be back walking in this fabulous crisp cold weather. We walked for some time without seeing any cows, or indeed evidence of any cows, and were beginning to wonder if they had been removed in our absence. Then, whilst walking past the sandy pond at about P17 we heard bellowing.There were a group of 3 brown and white cows moving towards another group, all bellowing away. They joined up and made their way through the high brush across the valley and were last seen climbing the hill to the Sandy Hill path. Had they not been making so much noise we would probably have missed them in the dense undergrowth. We saw 10 in all, and they seemed relaxed and well with no obvious problems.
There were lots of friendly people about today, walking dogs and riding bikes.

Tuesday Avo

Took quite a bit of looking to find them all today.  There were 6 down by the flying saucer which were a pain to get to but all looked fine.

The other 8 I eventually found in woods near to the A325.  Quite off the beaten track!

All look fine!

All seen

All seen yesterday afternoon. There was one herd with the majority towards Sandy Hill and 3 separate ones off on their own up by Bourley Road.

test

Wednesday Morning

All 14 were all the way back on Sandy Hill this morning, all rather wet through but looking fine otherwise.

Monday fun

All the cows were in G17 where I found them after coming from Gelvert. 1 has escaped and fled to Gelvert where I had just found him with the Gelvert lot. That was 10063.

Though I counted 14 on Caesars which given the presence of 10063 on GCA makes the 15 so all is good.

All looked good though grazing the area they may not get seen much until the move back round. I will probably pop back in to see where they area this morning.

Sunday am

The military had vehicles parked near the Pavilion, one with it’s tailgate open. 3 cows investigating the contents of the car, with a soldier trying to chase them away.

Cows win 8-7

I found 7 steers up near the view point early this afternoon, 5 together and two more singles not too far away. All looked in great shape.

I didn't manage to find the other 8, despite an hour and a half of looking, they managed to out-fox me (to use a slightly inappropriate term!)

Full house. Herd of 10 and 5.

First herd of 10 stretched along Sandy Hill. All looking well. Second herd was trickier but after a lap around the site they turned out not too far from first lot, just closer to lake and on banks.

Dodgy horn dried up and looks ok. No apparent discomfort.

Tuesday am

What do you mean, you want to use our path!

9 on Sandy Hill

Nine grazing together on Sandy Hill today (30th) around 4pm.  All looked well.  Didn't have time to get IDs.

At last

Well Wednesday didn’t turn up re allusive Welsh Blacks but tonight I have just managed to find them when about to give up and head for home. Typical.

All seen this week!

Monday, Tuesday and soon to be Wednesday

I have been onto site Monday and Tuesday this week. Monday I found 11 scatted around 29D in the woods.  Yesterday I found the same group of 11 just towards the pavilion from the horse pond and a pair up on sandy hill giving 13.

Im going to have another scout about shortly, fingers crossed!!!

Found 13 of the 15

1 group of 6 at the Sandy area. The other mid way in the centre stub.

Black steer no ear tag (Think this has been mentioned before). 063 snapped top off one horn. Not bleeding, no bother to steer apparently.

fit and well, 9 at the Horse Pond

Cattle looking healthy, well and relaxed at the Horse Pond.

7 Found

7 cows found this afternoon on the path beside Sandy Hill. There were a couple of families taking photos of them and explaining to their children why the cows are there. All looked well.

12 Oct - 11 cattle together on Sandy Hill

A group of 11 animals grazing and chewing cud on Sandy Hill 12 Oct mid afternoon.  They looked blissfully happy and very well.

Monday 9th October

Despite spending a few hours driving around I only found 10 yesterday - the five originals and 5 of the Shetlands. They were all fine.

There was a lot of military activity across the site though which prevented me from accessing some areas and I gave up at the end of the day when they started landing Chinooks onsite!

Hopefully I get another opportunity later in the week to get the full house.

12 of 15 spotted mid afternoon

I finally managed my first lookering session on Caesar's Camp, a couple of months late (sorry Guy). I had a good walk around but saw no cows until just as I was turning back at the far end, south east of the contaminated area, and there they were. I saw three of the 5 'cattle' (not 63 or 67) and 9 of the 10 Shetland steers. I didn't see ear tags 89 or 96 but I did see one black and white steer without a plastic ear tag. I guess he was one or the other. He still had the silver tag but I couldn't quite read the number on it (he kept moving his head!)

All 12 looked fine to me. I didn't look for the missing 3, I confess I had forgotten how many there were meant to be! They were probably not far away.

5 on Sandy Hill - 5 Oct

These five spent an hour or more on Sandy Hill 15:45-16:45 5 Oct chewing the cud and grazing.  All looked well.

bovine politics

Bovine politics seem to have come into play and scattered them - one is high on the ridge, lost and bellowing to find the others - 7 are on the sandy area, mostly in pairs and one sitting down alone, looking sulky.

Lovely afternoon for a walk

Walking for about an hour this afternoon. We came across 6 cows, 1 deer and no iguanas! We found the 6 cows wandering along the path beside Sandy Hill. Their ears are quite hairy so we found it difficult to see the tag numbers but there was one black one, three black and white ones and two brown and white.They all looked big and fat and glossy. They seems relaxed, even though there were several dogs about.

Full house of 15 all herding nicely together on the sandy area near Old Pavilion.

All looking well and ignoring soldiers ;)

Had a good look at 21, encouraged her to move and there didn't appear to be an issue. She was with the herd and feeding, no limping. Looks like what ever had made her limp previously has sorted itself out now : )
All good in the Caesar's Camp hood. Got a full house in Gelvert too.

possibly lame

Sorry for the long silence, first foray since my op! Spotted 12 cattle, and one, eartag ending 21 and pictured full face, appears to be walking somewhat stiff and awkward in hindquarters (I know how the poor beast feels!) , and could have a problem with right back leg.

Newbies

Saw the 10 new ones on the track to the south of the shallow pond on top of Caesar's.  They were calm and friendly though a couple looked a bit dazed by their new surroundings.  The smaller brown and one white ones are little beauties!  Didn't have time to check numbers but one of the black and white ones didn't have a tag.

10 cattle added

We have added another 10 Shetland cattle onto site today. 6 smaller red and white cattle and 4 larger black and white. I will get the ear tag numbers updated next week. Cheers

Slightly further up the track to the west

Early evening on Wednesday, the five were together near the track below Sandy Hill.  All seemed fine - despite driving rain!

CC 5 all found next to that weird white cube or block on the higher ground not far from the sandy area and about 200m from horse pond

All looking well and herding nicely together. Happy they have the run of the place I rekon! ;)

Back on site

There are now five cattle back on Caesars Camp as of this afternoon.

All look fine, more to join when they are suitably neat a gate between GCA and CC.

Interesting wildlife

I haven't seen the cows recently but I did find this beast on the common by Sandy Hill.  If anyone knows of someone who has lost a 3ft iguana then please let me know.  07771 914 185.

All cattle down in Camp 45.

As per Rosie's post from last week - we moved all the cattle down to Camp 45 on the Gelvert Catchment Area this morning. They'll stay there all this week while the TB tests are carried out.

TB test next week

Just a heads up that all the cattle will be moved into camp 45 (within gelvert catchment area) on Monday next week, in preparation for the annual TB test. They will then stay in camp 45 until friday.

Friday am

11 seen grazing in the open area near Sunny Hill. All busily tucking in to breakfast.

Three found on the way into Gelvert

Found 81/91/92 in Q8 as I was heading into the Gelvert site, all three were stood by the Cattle grid and 91 was mooing, loudly, perhaps trying to call 57 back? All three looked to be in good conditon with no problems.

Wednesday Avo!

I found all the cows today in 4 groups.

A group of 3 on the start of the Sandy Hill track, a further 9 were down the other end near to Bricksbury Hill.  5 were just down the escarpment near to the pond. The final 7 were a bit trickier to find and had hidden themselves in the large old gravel pits up by Beacon Hill.


All looking well!

Friday 25th early afternoon

Saw all the cattle in or around the Pegasus hut avoiding the sun and flies. Watching them for a little while they seem to be adopting a queuing system to get into the hut and some would push others out who would stand round the back, then they'd all shuffle round again!

Early evening all were out grazing below the fort in I/ H 19.

Friday am

On the way out, 10 spotted, around L26. A further 3, spread out, down the centre of Long Bottom. On the way back, 3 spotted around L29, not sure if these were part of the original 10. All seemed to be happily grazing and OK. The ones I could get near were being plagued by flies.

Thursday am

No cattle sightings, but I did come across two riders on horses. If horses can get in, can the cows get out somewhere?

9 on Sandy Hill

There were 9 beasts on Sandy Hill around 3:15pm today.  Mixture of grazing and chewing cud.  All looked healthy.

9 seen

We found 7 beside the path along Sandy Hill and a further 2 across the valley in the deep foliage. A little later we found 7 of the Gelvert gang beside the fence at about Q9. Lots of flies about but everyone looked happy.

One, brown & white, apparently on its own in open ground just to north of Hungry Hill.  It seemed to be quite content with its solitary status.  Seen early afternoon.

friday 18th august

All looking fit healthy and very frisky! Tag numbers 095, 107, 072, 090, 056, 104, 098, and 2 others, unable to get their tags.

Thursday pm

10 scattered around J28. All happily grazing.

Tuesday 15th August.

Between myself and Ian we found all the cattle over the last couple of days. Ian found 12 of them yesterday while out doing some surveys and I found the remaining 13 today.

Typically the cattle were in several well dispersed herds today and oddly one of them was all on its own in the Pegasus hut well away from any other cattle. I think this one just managed to get itself separated from the herd and was taking refuge in the shade. I spent about 15 minutes with it to make sure it didn't seem poorly but it soon decided enough was enough and started the long walk south to hopefully find the others!

All looking good with no problems to report.

Sandy Hill 9:30 14 Aug

7 animals grazing on Sandy Hill just now. Others visible across the valley. All looking healthy and happy.

Saturday am

The group of 10 were grazing on the open area, by the Pavillion boundary. All looked OK

Full house - split into 4 herds. They did make me explore today.

First small group of 4 spotted off the middle track nearing sandy area in scrub to the left. Next lot of 6 were found up on Sandy Hill but heading back towards wood and shell garage. Then it was a trip to the look out point and managed to just see a flash of one white in the distance below the point toward Bourley Rd (Arthers 5). And fortunately the larger group of 10 were laying up on the heather behind the lookout.

Aside from plenty of fly activity, all good!

Thursday am

10 grazing, amonst the bracken, on the slopes below the lookout.

Later on Saturday morning

Another seven near the exit onto Beacon Hill, keeping an eye on the men working around the fenced hut. They seemed fine.  

Saturday am

12 grazing amonst the bracken around I27. All seemed OK.

Thursday am

6+ around J26. Couldn't get an accurate count, they kept appearing and disappearing in the bracken.