The ginger glam squad

You would think that, being enormous and ginger, highland cattle would be easy to spot. However, they are the colour of autumn bracken, pine trees and sand, all the things that some of our reserves (e.g. Hothfield) have in abundance.

Hanging out in the middle of bogs can also make them tricky to spot as they cool off and munch on the young tree tips, keeping the vegetation down and letting rare bog plants come through.

Highlands are known to be stubborn and often the group splits up into several smaller herds. When this happens, we think they have probably just had a falling out and will take their time to make it up to each other.

The oldest girls are much smaller than the boys, but they are still in charge and the boys always move out of their way as the girls amble on by to their next eating, sleeping or grooming spot.

This herd keeps their long and dense coats in remarkably good condition using the trees that are scattered about the reserve to scratch and comb out the tangles. We spot clumps of ginger fur stuck to tree branches during the spring moult.

The cattle also use their impressive horns for scratching their flanks and digging through the sandy soil to create dust baths. It takes them a good amount of work to keep looking that regal.