We have recently received a couple of enquiries about the why's and wherefores of cattle on the reserves as it can appear incongruous to have hulking great bovines trampling and munching their way through our precious reserves.
The cows on Radipole and Lodmoor through spring, summer and autumn maintain a low diverse and varied sward to the benefit of a wide array of wildlife, from invertebrates to birds and mammals. If unmanaged the grassland will become ‘rank’ which essentially means a few vigorous plants dominate, benefitting relatively few invertebrates and the shorter sward required for ground nesting birds and wintering waders and wildfowl is not provided.
Our fantastic residential volunteer Irene - at one with the herd. She is Spanish and it is fiesta season which may possibly explain why they are cowering beneath the willows!
Mechanical control with tractor mounted equipment can maintain a low sward height but does not promote the tussocks, (micro scale hillocks which act as invertebrate refuges) which cattle produce by preferentially grazing more palatable vegetation types and by poaching the soil with their hooves – which also adds areas of bare soil for certain insects to exploit. Mechanical cutting is more intrusive and made difficult by the ground conditions across much of the site. That said we do mechanically manage hard rush as it is too coarse for even our hardy herd and this is undertaken outside of the nesting season.
Cattle are also charged with the responsibility of grazing pool margins thus maintaining open water where otherwise marginal vegetation would encroach, ensuring feeding opportunities for sight feeding fishers such herons, kingfisher, egrets and bittern. Obviously there exists the possibility of ground nests being trampled but the benefits far outweigh the cons as there would be far fewer nests were it not for the cattle maintaining a rich and varied sward.
Our cattle are owned by Peter Broatch of Eweleaze Farm ( http://www.eweleaze.co.uk/ ) in Osmington and are organic Aberdeen Angus - a famously hardy breed, well able to cope with the rigours of wetland life and not too fussy about the vegetation upon which they are forced to dine.