So this spring some of our yearling beltie gang are off to earn their keep as Conservation Grazers on the Suffolk Wildlife Trust sites at Oulton Marshes. Their task is to graze various wet nature reserve sites breaking up the sward to encourage diversity – unlike their commercial cousins belties do well on this kind of marginal wet grazing and as an added bonus their cowpats alone will support hundreds of different insects which in turn will provide food for birds and bats on the sites.

Part of their role will involve herding them along various trackways and byeways between sites and for this purpose we have sent halter trained bottle fed steer “Buster” to lead his little army from site to site. The first move was successfully completed last week. So if you live in Oulton look out for the “oreo cows” on the Camps Heath and Oulton Fen sites!