Highland cows visit boosts country park ecosystem

A country park has seasonal visitors who are playing an important role in balancing out the ecosystem.

Dinton Pastures Country Park in Winnersh, Berkshire has highland cows visiting for the season to eat the grass.

Highland Cattle help manage grassland by grazing tough plants and creating space for wildflowers and insects to thrive, this supports a rich and balanced ecosystem.

Liberal Democrat Wokingham Borough Councillor Katrin Harding said the highland cows are "very appealing" and are a "great help to boost biodiversity".

Cllr Harding said: "They are very appealing animals with that shaggy red brown fur and those glorious horns coming out from their heads."

The cows are only here for the summer to help boost the biodiversity, because these more "primitive" breeds and are less fussy about the flora and fauna they chomp on.

Cllr Harding explained that the countryside service have cattle on a number of their meadows across the borough and she said "where possible we do like to use rare breed cattle."

There are several reasons why they use different and rare breeds.

She said: "It is important to support rare breeds that don't survive very well in our industrial farming system and also for biodiversity.

"These rare breeds are more suited to eating those kind of tougher plants, and do better on poor soil conditions.

"They prefer these highly biodiverse meadows rather than the new breeds that like lush grass."

She urges residents and visitors to keep your distance from these "magnificent creatures" to be safe.

"They really do just leave you alone, it's the golden rule leave them alone and they will leave you alone," she added.

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