All close together in K13 at 9:30 this morning, heads down chewing away, all looked fine & not bothered by us at all...

Tuesday 29 July 8:45am

Crumple on her own in K10, chewing cud and looking a bit miserable when I arrived, the others in K6.  As I walked over to look closer at them, Jericho and Melody went to join Crumple.  Morag took a few hesitant steps in the same direction.  No obvious problems.

visited today 2.30

all the girls happily in the trees laying down chilling out in l4. melody looking very girly and beautiful. x

The girls were in L9 at 8am this morning, heads down chewing away.  Good to see Melody & Jericho looking playful together with their tails wagging like mad lol. They all looked great, no issues.

All in M6 at 8:15, just standing there waiting for us this morning. All very calm & relaxed, looking good. My only observation was that Morag is still dragging her hoofs along the ground when walking.

visited today at 5 pm

all the girls were happily grazing in j4/k4, all seemed peaceful,flies seemed to have relented a little. Although i do think one of them has the runs because the was very runny poo's in the area. x

Walked around for over an hour in this heat & no sighting again, went to all their usually places to no avail....

Tuesday 22 July 1pm

Crumple sitting in the shade others grazing L9,  looked OK

visited today at 2pm

walked around for a good hour to no avail,they were playing hide from jo , again . x

Sorry for the short notice but I'm not around this weekend so please feel free to blog should you be over there, many thanks :-)

visited friday7.30pm

All the girls were standing in j4 except jericho the belted gallway who was standing further in the trees in i4,the lump was attrcting flies and she had 50 flies in each eye,and her nose was running alot,i know in the heat this is common as it cools them down but it did look excessive.

Lump on Belted Galloways back

Hello All, I visited today to check the livestock and noticed a walnut sized lump on the back of the belted Galloway. It was receiving attention from flies so I contacted the grazier to let them know. They replied to say she had a similar lump last year but they would investigate later today anyway. Other than that they all looked really good. I had chance to have a walk around the site a bit and monitor the heaths regeneration which I have to say is looking amazing. Keep up the good work all Elliott

Tuesday 15 July 8:45 am

L10, Jericho grazing others sitting.  Morag was licking Crumple's back.  All looked peaceful in the shade.

Me too

I also saw them all this afternoon enjoying the sunshine and all looked happy and healthy. Nothing more to report!

Hello

Just wanted to say hello and introduce myself...
I'm Sophie Beesley, the new Assistant Reserves Officer, stepping into Keith's old shoes. I've come back to work at the Trust after time away to have a baby and will be working three days a week so I hope to see you out and about.

visited today @ 2pm

All the girls happily lazing around in l 13/14. melody was rubbing her face all over jerichos back end,they both seemed to enjoy that immensely.It was very funny to watch.There was a very young deer standing by the gate in f4 last night around 8pm,i was really concerned about it ,it didnt even run from the dogs i had to get them away. x

They were very kind to us again today.  They were in I10/11 at 8:30 this morning, heads down chewing away at the short grass. Not too many flies about and they were not bothered by us walking between them at all.  All looked good to me.

They were kind to me today...At 7:30am, we followed them along the track from H12 all the way down to the water trough in D15 so I got a good look at how they were doing.  Apart from all the flies, Jericho did look very bloated, Morag was walking ok & keeping up with the others but her hoofs were dragging, even her back two were clipping each other whilst walking. Not sure if she needs a check as I've seen other posts that mention something similar with Morag's walking...

today 12.30

I know its not my day but i thought id say ,all present and correct chilling under a group of pines in around l8. x

sorry re previous post when i say visited today its after midnight so is yesterday x

visited today at 8.15pm

Icouldnt find them today,i do admit i was really pushed for time,i do wish i had have looked at the blog before i went as i see 2 of you good people didnt spot them yesterday either. I m going tomorrow mid morning as i guess is the friday looker so i will make sure they are there. x

No sighting this afternoon

I was on the site at 4pm. I fixed the bridle gate near the south cattle grid to make it self-closing, afte the escape at the weekend. I walked round the whole perimeter of the site, but saw neither hide nor hair of them.

First duty back after holiday and unfortunately no sighting today. I walked around twice but the braken it so high now I just couldn't see them but did see that yesterday so know they are fine.

Tuesday 8 July 8:30am

All grazing H7.  Not too many flies this morning.  No problems seen, Morag did not walk far but seemed OK, they were all very busy eating.  Checked top gate was properly shut.

water trough

ive pulled out and crushed down as many of the nettles and ferns around the trough and checked it and it seems fine. x

visited today at 2pm

all the girls standing in the trees for shade in l4,apart from crumple who was lying down ,being licked by jericho for ages. I watched Morag for 10 mins but she barely moved so it was hard to tell how she is.There were masses of flys all round her including wasps and very large hover fly type things.She was chewing away ,her hooves look long not sure if that may have any relevance.Shes normally the most aware looking of them all but she didnt really even look up,even when the dogs got a little close. Hopefully im just being paraniod but can we keep a closer eye on her please.x

visited today at about 6.30pm

was walking with the dogs and found the cows in g14 and h14,i couldnt see morag for a while,but then as we carried on through the woods a little, she was there looking very slow and in pain ,she was limping but it was hard to tell on which leg as it seemed like all of them. I have never seen her look like that and i was very concerned.I have left a voicemail at the office and as its my day tomorrow anyway i'll take extra care to check her.Heres hoping she looks better tomorrow. W hen i saw her yesterday i remember thinking she doesnt look very fat for this time of year. x

Melody Returns...

As an update to me previous post - Melody has now been returned to Bramshot Heath.

Melody AWOL - Temporarily!

Apologies for not posting this yesterday.

Melody managed to find her way out of Bramshot Heath yesterday and navigated her way down to Pondtail. Due to the heat and the long walk she'd just done I took the decision to not try and move her back onto Bramshot Heath and instead, put her onto the Pondtail reserve. This was agreed with the grazier who will be picking Melody up today and taking her back to Bramshot Heath to rejoin the others.

I couldn't find any fence breaks and believe the gate next to the cattle grid that leads onto the Pondtail track had been left open, fortunately Melody was the only one who found it!

Friday 4 July 8:30 pm - no sign of Melody

I was just out with my dog and the others were in K5 but I could not see Melody anywhere nearby.   Do we have a regular Saturday looker.  I will check again tomorrow anyway.

visited thursday @ 2pm

All the girls chilling out ,having a lay down in the cool fern in g/h 5,all seems good there. x

Tuesday 1 July 7pm

All up and moved.   Morag, Melody and Jericho J5/K5.  Crumple was hiding in the bracken H6.  All looked OK.

Tuesday 1 July 8:45am

All four tucked in sitting under the rhododendron D4.  They were still there unmoved 45 minutes later.  I will check again this evening.  Trough full.