January - March
The first quarter started with great excitement, with cattle and new kit
January
Highland Cattle
On January 13th, 2004, we received 5 Highland cattle. This are part of a 'roaming herd' owned by Hampshire County Council, whose role in life is simply 'conservation grazing' around Hampshire. They move between about 7 sites throughout the year, as different areas have different grazing plans: some want their biological mowers in summer, others in winter.
Whilst the cattle are beautiful and a joy to have on the hill, their care is extremely labour intensive.
Twice a day, every day, the cattle, their water trough, and the perimeter fence, need to be checked. The cattle check is known as "lookering" - as we do more than look at them.
Volunteers are out 2 or 3 times a day to perform this task.
It is no problem and a pleasure - as long as it is not raining, and the cattle are not deeply embedded and lost in the scrub, which is a common occurrence.
February
Aberdeen Angus
On February 6th, 2004, we released 6 Aberdeen Angus cattle, firstly onto the compartment above the Portsdown chalk quarry.
The cattle belong to a local farmer, who is trading the service of grazing for the feeding of his stock.
It is a perfect match, and we hope it will be a long-term solution to grazing management on the hill.
As the farmer and his family live locally, they continue to watch over their stock. This relieves us of the daily 'lookering' of the Highland herd, although we are of course still responsible for the site and fence maintenance.
Yew Trimming
The yew trees must have their trunks shaved of growth and have their 'crowns raised' - so the cattle, who are strangely drawn to this poisonous feast, cannot reach the greenery.
A shaved yew tree, undergoing 'crown-raising'
Pollen-laden yew foliage, which brought down a cloud
Shetland and British Spotted Ponies
On February 25th, out on a hunt for the Aberdeen Angus, I found, instead, 5 ponies. They had been 'put onto the hill yesterday'.
They are of assorted colour, and complete our trio of Caledonian livestock - now we have Highland Cattle (below the fort), and Aberdeen Angus and Shetland Ponies above and to the east of the main quarry.
All we need now is a flock of haggises (haggi?) and we'll have the complete set - although I am unsure if haggis are grazing animals?
Water Troughs
The provision of water is, obviously, vital. The chalk ridge of Portsdown may hold water below, but none flows above ground. Troughs must therefore be maintained and installed in every area where cattle now graze.
On the regular wednesday task, February 11th, great excitement followed the discovery of an old, concrete trough from within the scrub. This was probably a sheep-trough from earlier days. It seems to be less intrusive, though less practical, than the current metal boxes.
An excavated old water trough, well-overgrown
A standard, 'middle-aged' trough
A task of 26th November 2003 - laying the pipes for a young trough
March
The Collector Unit
The long-awaited collector unit arrived on the 5th, giving plenty of opportunity to play with the new toy :-)
It was bought with a grant from Onyx as part of the 'Landfill Tax Credit Scheme' - the local landfill waste site on Portsdown is able to divert some of their tax to 'environmental improvement schemes'. Scrub clearance on Portsdown Hill most definitely qualifies. This will relieve those volunteers to whom the raking is a chore.
First trial
oops...
It's Stuck
Day 2...
More Angus
On the 4th, we got 6 more Aberdeen Angus, upping the herd to 12. Our first sighting of them was on the 5th
Cattle into 'Compartment 5'
Having spent the past 10 years (since 1994) fencing the area east of Porchester Common, and dividing it into 10 'compartments', today - March 3rd - was a major event.
Richard and Tim finished the last gate of compartment 5, then we herded the Aberdeen Angus through from 'compartment 4'.
Today was the first day that cattle had grazed in compartment 5 since Richard's grazing program began.
He was inordinately excited by it :-)
Tim shovelling dirt, Richard with pickaxe making clearance for the gate
Herding the cattle eastwards along compartment 4 to their new home in compartment 5
A final drink....
And in....
Scrub meeting
During March, a "scrub control" meeting was held to which a number of 'conservation' workers came. About 30 attended, representing various conservation teams, English Nature, and 'the man from DEFRA'. Presentations about the need for scrub control and removal, and the best ways to achieve this, were given. The indoor meetings was followed by a site visit, where we all admired the new Aebi in action, which had been partially funded by some of the representatives there.
SEB
To clear access to the electricity pylons, the SEB came out with 'seriously heavy kit'.
The bad news was, they damaged two fences - both in a compartment currently holding cattle. And then tried to mow down a couple of our volunteers - they tried to Kill Bill :-o
The good news was, they cleared a 'shedload of scrub'.
Where there was once dense scrub....
Clear path where once there was scrub
damaged fencing
teeth of the SEB mulcher
Litter Picking
Somewhen in February, I got sick of the sight of litter, which is a continual problem - especially in the vicinity of the viewpoints, car parks and burger vans :-(
On the 22nd March, I collected my 50th sackful.
I really must get myself a t-shirt saying "I do this voluntarily, I am not on community-service". Whilst some runners and walkers chat and thank me, others treat me as an undesirable, assuming I have been punished for some misdemeanor with an undesirable job,
Which I do wish did not need to be done.
