During a wander around Castle Bottom this afternoon i saw the horns of one of the cows deep in the undergrowth and went to investigate... as i approached i noticed a little black 'smudge' at the cows feet! Imagine my surprise when the little smudge stood up and turned out to be a brand new baby calf, born at some point over the Jubilee weekend.
Mother and baby appear to be doing well -mum is busy grazing and the baby had most definatly found his feet and was bouncing around by the time i left them! Obviously it is still early days and there is still alot that can go wrong, but everything is looking good at the moment.
Over the next few days -do not be surprised if you don't see them, mum is still being protective and keeping them well hidden, but i'm sure it won't be long before they join the rest of the herd! If you do see them, please don't get too close for the moment as the mother is likely to lead them further into the undergrowth where it will be harder for us to keep an eye on them!
Checked all cows and ponies today - all our doing fine, including the new mum and calf, who already seem to have re-joined the rest of the herd!
ReplyDeleteWell we were lucky, as we had the best weather of the week to do our duty!Both ponies were at the Blackbushe gate, grooming each other, when I walked the dog early afternoon. They were still there 2 hours later when we both went up to Castle Bottom to locate the cattle!Both ponies looked fine and were happy to let us stroke them.Found 4 cows and 4 calves together in areas 7+8 all grazing happily.Also here we saw Smudge(lovely) and his Mum who were nearby but not with the main group.All cows calm and looking good.Well thought we had been beaten because we couldn't find Bully Boy after a lengthy search, so were heading back and at last we spotted him in area 3, busy munching. He looked fine from a distance!Just glad we found him.
ReplyDeleteAll the Cattle and ponies were spread across areas 9, 12 and 13 today.
ReplyDeleteMother and baby are doing well and seem to be integrating with the other cattle now -although mum is still keeping them on the outskirts of the group most of the time.
Sunday 10th
ReplyDeleteAndy spotted the 2 ponies, smudge and 10 cattle when he was out for run this morning. Smudge and Mum were with the others, Smudge made a run over to Andy with Mum hot on his heals but it seems the ponies headed him off and herded him back to Mum.
Wednesday 13th June 9:30am
ReplyDeleteAt last we have seen little Smudge - great. Found all the cattle in area 13 at the start of our walk, and they had moved over to the shady area by the track by the time we returned. The two ponies were grazing in area 8. All looked well and no doubt happy to be out in a dry spell of weather.
Saw all the cows and ponies today. All seem fine, little Smudge and his/her mum were separate from the herd but with one of the younger brown cows in area 6, all the other were in areas 11, 10 and then 9! Ponies were up by the top gate (area 1). All happily grazing until I tried to treat them with fly repellent, they didn't like that very much at all, despite explaining to them that it was for their own good!
ReplyDeleteAlso - please do let us know if you're comments aren't being published on here, as we may be experiencing a few problems with the site.
ReplyDeleteIt was very windy at Castle Bottom today and the herd was lying down at the corral, away from any trees. The new calf seems to be friendly with all of them and was laying next to Sooty (or possibly Sweep) when we arrived. The bull was in area 2/3 well away from the others. The two ponies were near the Blackbushe gate. All animals seem contented and in good condition.
ReplyDeleteWe saw all the cattle together today in the shady area under the trees. Lovely to see smudge he is very cute!
ReplyDeleteThe ponies were also fine on the opposite side of the track.
Rangers: There is a broken step on the walkway (coming fromthe blackbush side it is after the stream).
Sorry for late reply. Went watching on Friday and found the Bull in the bushes near the stream looking very well and happierly eating. When we reached the stream we found mum and new calf along with the two brown calfs and another adult. All looked very healthy and Smudge is just adorable. I did notice that as mum went to walk away and past Houdini she was quite aggressive towards him pushing him out of the way. The other cows apart from one of the black calfs were across the other side of the stream up on the hill all eatting happierly and looking healthy. We were unable to find the other calf along with the two ponies and ended up gave up the hunt when it started raining.
ReplyDeleteWednesday 20th June 11:30am
ReplyDeleteFirstly we found the 2 ponies, Smudge and his mum plus the largest of the 2 light brown calves in area 3. Then we found the rest of the cows and young ones down by the stream. We could not find the bull, he must have been feeling anti-social and was having some 'me time' in the undergrowth. The animals that we saw looked fine.
Tuesday 19th. Saw three cows by the wooden steps (coopers hill end) and the bull laying on the bank of the stream looking very content. Lots of flies around him? Saw the two ponies too near the coopers hill entrance. All others cows could not be foun...at all!
ReplyDeleteWent in through the Cooper Hill entrance and found some of the cow's coming out of the bushes just as you come round the first corner. Stood around watching them and making sure they were ok while more appeared out of the bushes. Ended up with 10 out of the 11 which were all fine. Seen Natalie while we were checking them over and she told us that the horses were at the top of the stream so we went of to look for them and find the last adult cow. Found the horses were Natalie said they would be and they both look happy and healthy. We were unable to find the last cow thou and as we walk back we came across the other cows again which were happily laying down enjoying the sun. We went back up this evening to do the Nightjar walk which we all really enjoyed thank you.
ReplyDeleteSaturday 23rd June
ReplyDeleteThe bull was running the creche down at the stream today with all the youngsters(Sooty+Sweep,Annoymous brown, Houdini + Smudge) whilst the other 5cows were off munching through area 2. We now know that Smudge is a male. The two ponies were together in area 3.It was very considerate of them all to be in the nearest area to the Blackbushe entrance!All animals look fine and don't seem to be bothered by the flies.
Sunday 24th June 8.30am
ReplyDeleteSaw ponies and then all of the cows together laying down so we didn't disturb them, just looked from a distance.
All the cows were easy to find today, unlike the rest of the week! All lying peacefully in the sun near area 13. Ponies at the top of the stream also grazing happily. Only thing worthy of note really is the number of common spotted orchids out in one of the sections of boggy heath at the moment, lost count at 30 but there must have been at least a hundred, a really amazing sight!
ReplyDeleteTuesday 26 . Saw all 11 cattle and both ponies by the caral within 5mins of looking, very easy! smudge was running around in circles like a mad thing!
ReplyDeleteWed. 27th June 11:00am
ReplyDeleteFound all the cattle and the ponies having a rest amongst the trees in area 3. All looked fine.
Rangers - can you tell us in which area you found the orchids?
We managed to find all cattle and ponies tonight. All the mum's and babies were at the corral along with the horses. They all looked very well and were enjoying munching through the bushes.. The bull was doing his own thing near the top of the stairs on the way to the stream. We did notice kids messing around on motor bikes outside of the common so it might be worth keeping an eye out to make sure they are not getting on to the site.
ReplyDeleteYvonne and Andrew Saturday 30 June morning. All cattle were found in area 13. Smudge was with the bull and it seems he thinks that leaping around like a spring lamb is really good fun. Couldn't find the ponies though. They must have been well hidden in the bushes which are now providing quite extensive cover.
ReplyDeleteWed 4th July 10:30am
ReplyDeleteManaged to walk around the site in the dry. Found all the cattle and the 2 ponies grazing/lazing in area 13. All looked well.
All Cows and ponies seen this afternoon and are doing well!
ReplyDeleteWent to check the cattle and the ponies this evening. All cow apart from the bull were near the corral along with the ponies. They all looked healthy and even though it has been raining so much they didn't seem too wet or bothered by it. They were all enjoying eating through all the new leaves on the bushes. We carried on looking for the bull but was unable to find him.
ReplyDeleteSaturday 7 July afternoon
ReplyDeleteAll cows and calves were in the area by the stream. Both ponies found in the area near the corral,were very friendly, enjoyed lots of attention from us and then followed us back for a while.All happy and healthy. Sadly though even after an extensive search by us both, we still could not find Billy the Bull! Very difficult now even to find such a big animal.
Saw both the ponies grazing in area 8 and all the cattle including the bull grazing in area 10. The little calf is really starting to grow now, and happily wandering amongst the group rather than staying right next to mum the whole time.
ReplyDelete1st of all I did go last Tuesday, I just plain forgot to put it on the blog. FYI I only saw two cattle and the ponies. Went today and saw all 12 cattle and both ponies all bang smack in the middle of the reserve. Houdini kept getting charged by the ponies, apart from that. All was well. P.s. I'm off on my honey moon and will miss the next two Tuesday's. Hope that's ok
ReplyDeleteThat's fine - thanks for letting us know!Congratulations and hope you have a great time!
DeleteWednesday 11th July
ReplyDeleteFound the horse and pony grazing in the open of area 7. Noticed that the hooves of the large horse are chipped around the edges and slighty cracked. Cattle - found mother and youngster along with the 2 dark calves in the trees of area 3. The rest were down by the stream. By the time we had finished our walk the cattle had reunited and were at the top of the steps.
Despite roaming the whole site, I only managed to find the ponies today. Did see lots of little Smudge hoofprints in the mud though, no doubt they were walking me round in circles around the site. Also saw lots of butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies about, enjoying the respite of rain.
ReplyDeleteSaturday 14 July 2pm
ReplyDeleteHumid and dry today, and we didn't get wet! All cows( including Bull) and both ponies were found in 3 groups across areas 6,7 and 9. All looking fine though one of the cow's moo sounded like a bark!! Smudge is very calm and none of the animals seem worried about us humans! We enjoyed the peace and quiet today even though we could see the planes at Farnborough Air Show.
Sunday 14th 7pm
ReplyDeleteWe saw 11 cattle and 2 ponies by the stream and steps, we did not see one of the younger cows. All seemed fine.
Hi Tracey, thanks for checking the cattle yesterday. Just wanted to check that you meant you saw 11 cows - as there are only 11 cows on site, so perhaps you saw the whole herd?
DeleteHi really sorry I forgot to leave my comment on Friday. We went out about 7.00pm to look for the cattle and we found the horses on the path walking up to the corral. They both looked fine and enjoying eatting away dispite the rain. We then went down by the stream and had a look over the other side where we found the bull 2 adult cows and one of the brown young ones. I notice that there was movement over the other side of the bridge heading back up the hill towards the blackbush entrence so we walked back that way where we finely found the remaining 7 cows. By this time it was raining really hard yet none of the cattles seemed bothered and even smudge was his usual bouncy self but it is a shock to see how fast he is growing. All in all they were all happy and looking healthy from what we could see.
ReplyDeleteTuesday 17th July 11:30am
ReplyDeleteNot our day but we were out for a walk, and of course we found the cattle immediately. They were at the top of the hill in area 15. All looked fine. We did not see the horses.
Wednesday 18th July 11:00am
We found the horses today but not all the cattle. The horses were grazing in area 13. Noticed a chip out of the front, left hoof of the larger horse. Found the youngest calf with its mum along with the next youngest and one of the dark brown calves lazing under a tree in area 13. There was no sign of the rest, perhaps they were in the mire, we could not go in very far as we did not have our waders!
Hi Carol and Bill,
DeleteThanks for letting us know about the condition of the hooves of the larger horse. The grazier that owns the animals went to see them today just to check up on them - his opinion is that as long as the horses do not appear to be distressed in any way, i.e. the hooves are not causing them any pain or causing any lameness, then we shouldn't worry. As the horses are leading semi-wild lives, they are bound to not look as well-kept as ridden ponies that are shoed etc. Another thing to keep an eye on though and note if it does seem to be getting worse.
Saturdsay 21st July 4pm: Sunny at last! All the cattle found in area 6 with a couple on the other side of the path in area 3. The ponies were at the top of area 7. All seemed in good health. We noted that the calves are shedding their coats which are beginning to look a bit tatty! The path down to the stream from area 3 and 4 is missing a tread on the 4th length (after the 4th step). Today it was also very still and quiet and we saw a muntjac deer and could hear masses of bees humming across the heather. Summer at last?
ReplyDeleteSunday
ReplyDeleteSaw all cattle & ponies. All seemed fine.
Sorry but we have a busy summer holidays planned, so I may not be able to make Sundays but am sure to be walking the dog up there on other random days so will record anything unusual.
Hi Tracey,
DeleteThanks for letting us know. If you would like to continue recording on here when you can when you do see the cows/ponies, that would be helpful. Hope you enjoy the Summer!
Wed 25th July 19:30
ReplyDeleteThe evening was still hot. Found the cattle and the horses making their way up from the river in the undergrowth between areas 2 and 3. They were grazing as they moved along. At present the ground is a bit firmer and so we managed to make our beyond the edge of the undergrowth, we only caught glimpses of some of the cattle, but they all seemed happy as they grazed.