Thursday 5th September - 24 seen

Cows 72 and 940, along with steers 20 and 33, were grazing among the trees near ///begin.loyal.game on Hungry Hill at 17:35 this afternoon. They were all enjoying plenty of leaves. Although rather wet, they looked well.

Despite the rain, steers 21, 35, 219, 220, 222, 230 and 271, along with cows 214 and 234, were grazing in the thicket in the pasture to the north. They were well spread out, grazing in ones and twos, which made it challenging to find them. All of them appeared happy, relaxed and in good condition. Youngster 219's eye was less red this evening, with the ulcer returning to a pinkish colour.

By 18:25, all thirteen cows had gathered near ///visa.spin.deeper after descending the hill. Most stood under the trees, relaxing and chewing their cud, while a few continued munching on leaves from the branches.

Despite the light rain, youngsters 227 and 228 were lying down and chewing their cud near ///camp.amps.derailed at 18:40. Youngster 217 and yearling 270, along with the seven Sussex cattle, were scattered around them, grazing. Most were enjoying leaves from the trees, bushes or heather. Cow 211, though quite wet, was very friendly and came over to say hello and give me some head rubs. The group of eleven were all good.

After thoroughly searching the surrounding area, I was unable to find older steer 30. When I returned to where I had left the first group at 19:05, they had all moved on and split into several smaller groups, scattered far and wide. Despite searching until 19:40, when it was getting dark, there was still no sign of steer 30. I have no idea where he was hiding today.

It appears that a contractor has been cutting the gorse bushes at the far eastern end of Sandy Hill, near ///podcast.routs.acted. I've included a photo below for reference. I'm not sure if this work is related to the water pipeline project?

The twenty-four cows found today were good, despite being rather wet.