From Alex Cruickshank, Project Manager

As winter draws in there is less food for the cattle on the heaths than during the summer months.

Purple moor grass (the straw coloured tussocky stuff that covers much of the heathland) is one of the few deciduous grasses. This means that it does not stay green over the winter, like your lawn does, but each year it 'dies' back, forming the tussocks of dead grass. These tussocks can be an important place for wildlife - snakes like to bask on them in the spring and harvest mice will make their nests using the dead grass. However, the dead grass is not very nutritious for the cattle.

Another food that comes into short supply are the birch leaves which are shed by the tree in the winter. This protects the tree from frost damage and allows the tree to reabsorb some of the nutrients in the leaf.

Other plants may still be green, but growth slows right down over the winter and the gorse and heather are not very tasty as they become tough and chewy!

In order to cope with these changes we have to adjust the way we manage the cattle. They will get a bit thinner or 'lose condition'. This is a natural process that can be beneficial, especially for cows that will calve the following spring. In some cases we remove them to more suitable pasture or barns for the winter. We can also provide supplementary feed for them in the form of feed blocks. These blocks are less damaging to the site than hay, which can introduce unwanted plant species and they will encourage the cattle to continue eating some of the vegetation on the heath.

On your local heath we will probably be doing a combination of all of these, so don't be suprised if you see some of the cattle disappear for the winter, or strange brown blocks appear! We will of course keep you updated with how many cattle are on each site.

Keep warm and enjoy the changes that will happen over the next few months.

Alex