Down a quiet side road near Woking you wouldn’t expect to find four fluffy cows grazing a small woody field between some houses, but that’s exactly what we went to look for this morning!

My guide was Zygie, a volunteer with the grazing team who has been supporting Surrey Wildlife Trust for several years. She originally joined the practical conservation team but when her health changed she looked for an alternative. She hadn’t worked with cattle before, but having owned horses and grown up in the countryside the role offered an opportunity for contact with the animals that she had been missing.

Zygie led me down a quiet lane and over a couple of gates to find the site. Sometimes the cows are secretive and hidden but today we spotted two almost immediately, and we heard a deep moo from within a patch of scrub, helping us to find a third. These cows are Belted Galloways, which are black and fluffy with a large white “belt” around their bellies. This breed has a gentle nature, making them useful for sites with public access. They’re also hardy, adaptable and a generalist browser making them perfect for conservation grazing.

Livestock checkers, or grazing “lookers”, check the wellbeing of our animals. They visually check for wounds, that they are chewing food, breathing regularly, and that their feet and eyes look healthy. If they have concerns they take photographs and report back to the grazing team, who will then come out to doublecheck. Other signs to look out for are unusual behaviours. For example, if one is on its own it can be an indication that it is being excluded. We therefore start heading further into the site in search of the fourth cow in case he is separated from the others.

Only three steps in we spot him, which is a relief! He has cornered himself against a neighbours’ fence and we decide to loop around the back to try to encourage him to rejoin the others (and move further away from the neighbours’ carefully manicured garden). 

Grazing volunteers are so important to maintaining our reserves as we wouldn’t be able to have livestock on nearly as many sites if no one could check on them. Zygie describes the role as really rewarding and a great way to volunteer without having commit entire days at a time. It gives her a sense of purpose to feel she is contributing to nature conservation, and having an excuse to visit green spaces has benefits for her mental health. It is a flexible opportunity as what time of day she goes is entirely up to her, and she likes having a reason to leave the house for a walk or run to see the cows. The sites she monitors are both within a 15min walk from her house, making it convenient to pop out to see them. Most grazing volunteers check cattle or sheep a couple of times a week, but Zygie tends to go every day while the cattle are on site. 

Zygie enjoys the opportunity to engage with wildlife. She is trying to improve her botany skills by teaching herself to recognise plants, and says that spending time with the cows is what inspired her to start learning. The cattle are vital to the management of the sites as grazing keeps the grass down and allows wildflowers including orchids to thrive. Zygie’s work enables the cattle to be present on the site, and their grazing efforts are what allow opportunities for the wildflowers which she is learning to identify! There’s a nice circularity to this that’s easy to appreciate.

Once all four cows are accounted for and everything has been checked we start to head back over the gates. Zygie will be back tomorrow to check on them again. If you think you’d also like to spend some mornings visiting our cows or sheep then we’d love to hear from you! Click here to find out more.

Finally, a huge thanks to all of the amazing grazing volunteers who check the livestock and allow us to carry out conservation grazing on our reserves. We couldn’t do it without you!