Full house. All in woods at top of hill and track before heading down hillor across to Look out.

Got tipped off by 940 and the Welsh black, the rest appeared from the wood. Shelering from this rain I suspect.

All looking well, 021 still pretty thin compared to the others. And most are quite ticky now. Next dosing due in a couple weeks or so. 

8 Cows seen

Brighter and dryer today than expected. We found 8 cows grazing happily along the top path by Sandy Hill. All looked well.
On a side path we found the part remains of what looked like a deer. It was a hind leg, I think, of what looked like a small adult animal. It had clearly been eaten.
A couple of big groups of friendly soldiers milling about looking lost!

Wednesday 25th April.

Visited the site late afternoon and after one-and-a-half laps could only find seven cattle. They were all up on the grassy area on Sandy Hill.

I put a lick out for them but they weren't very interested - a good sign that better quality forage is finally coming through.

The numbers of the ones I found are:

100093
600075
500023
400089
301940
400096
600098

All looking fit and well.

Wednesday am

Spotted 3, well spread out, down the centre of Long Bottom. Making the most of the new growth.

Saturday am

Most of the cows, well spread out, on the slopes of Long Bottom, below Hungry Hill. They were happily hoovering up the new shoots.

All 12 well

Found all 12 together enjoying the fresh grass next to the Sandy Hill estate. 21 eating lots of grass and nettles which should help.

Regarding dog walkers: Natural England's Special Protection Area (SPA) Wardens are now patrolling MoD sites which are within the SPA speaking to dog owners about responsible dog walking. Hopefully that will help over time reduce some of the problems.

11 on Wednesday evening

Found a large group (11) near the gate onto Beacon Hill early this evening - perhaps they were keeping clear of the army activity that was around the Camp area. They looked fine and to be enjoying the rapidly growing grass.  Hope the missing one was somewhere close by.

Interested in the comments about the dogs on two counts - I found a dead deer a couple of weeks ago close to the fence near the stile down to the drained reservoir, it looked as if might have had a cut (bite?) on its rear, it was a sad sight.  And around the same time I saw one of the Shetlands chased by a labrador (who I tried to chase away). 

Perhaps some of the dogs need keeping an eye on - with Long Valley having limited access, there seem to be even more dog walkers on Caesar's.

Tuesday am

No cattle sightings, but I did come across a man with two labrador sized dogs talking to a woman with two black labradors. It would appear that one or other of their dogs had brought down and killed a fawn. It was a rather disturbing conversation as the solution they were proposing was to muzzle the dogs, so they couldn’t bite the deer. They were quite happy for the dogs to chase the deer all over the heathland, indeed the man was of the opinion that it was only a problem when fawns are around as he reckoned his dogs would not catch up with an adult deer. 

7 found

Found 7 today in L26 - all looked well and enjoying the glorious sunshine! Could only see two tags - 093 and 940.

All found in 2 herds.

Four including 021 were In the lower sections around the controlled burn sites. 021 looked a bit better than when i last saw her I thought. Certainly no worse anyway. And now she gets a Lick!

The main 8 were in the gorse and Heather behind the lookout point. I was helped by 5 youngsters and 2 mum' , and very helpful they wete too. Have given them a lick too. All looking well. 

Lovely sunshine!

So nice to walk in the warm sun this afternoon. So clear that we could see the Wembley Arch from the lookout, always a good sign! Lots of people out enjoying the weather, lots of children and dog walkers including, unfortunately, a man allowing his large black dog to chase a doe, which thankfully leapt the fence into Gelvert.                                                                                                                After a couple of hours walking we found all 12 cows ambling happily along the path beside The Sandy Hill Estate. They all looked glossy and well fed.