From hardy Soay sheep and native cattle breeds to Water Buffalo, grazing animals are helping local charity, Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust, maintain a rich variety of habitats across its nature reserves. Their work is particularly important at this time of year, when many wildflowers and grasses have flowered and set seed and livestock can help create the variety needed by plants and wildlife to thrive.

But the prolonged hot and dry conditions have also impacted how the Trust manages its grazing animals.

Anna Daniels, Senior Reserves Officer, Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust, says,

“We’re seeing both challenges and opportunities because of the heatwaves this summer. The dry weather means there is less grazing available on some of our reserves, so we have had to move livestock more frequently and purchase additional equipment to make sure they have enough water in the hot weather. That takes a lot more planning and practical work from our reserves team.

“But our wet grassland sites are telling a different story. These habitats are more resilient to the weather conditions we’ve been experiencing - some are still much lusher than the grasslands available on farms, so our reserves are providing an important grazing resource at a time when graziers are facing a shortage of grass. This has meant we’ve seen a willingness from graziers to manage challenging logistics to get animals on to areas of our land that are not always easy to access. It’s a great example of a win, win situation - our reserves at Danemead, and Rye Meads, both near Hoddesdon, and King’s Meads in Ware are all benefitting from more conservation grazing than they otherwise would, and the cattle there are enjoying a good feed!”

The Trust’s different sheep breeds each have an important role to play in conservation grazing and have been chosen specifically for their feeding characteristics, resilience to more extreme conditions, and general hardiness.

At Aldbury Nowers Nature Reserve near Tring, thanks to funding from Dacorum Borough Council’s Green Community Grant, the reserves team took on lambs this spring for the first time ever. The flock of 22 Soay sheep includes 13 lambs, which are grazing the chalk grassland to support plants such as Cowslip, Common Rock-rose, Marjoram and Carline Thistle to flourish. The flora provides a varied source of nectar for a variety of butterfly species, including Dark Green Fritillary and Chalk Hill Blue. The Soay flock are a hardy, primitive breed, which originates from St. Kilda in the Outer Hebrides and is well adapted to tackling scrub and grazing lower-nutrient grassland. They thrive on sparse vegetation and can eat tougher vegetation that other breeds may avoid.

“Managing Soays can be challenging because they are alert and flighty, reflecting their primitive heritage – of the sheep breeds that we own they are definitely the ‘wildest’, says Anna Daniels. “Fortunately, the Trust has a volunteer with a sheepdog who is able to help round up the flock. Building a relationship with the sheep and understanding their behaviour has been an important part of learning how best to manage them.

“Using livestock to assist our work, means we also have to consider the risks presented by the reserve environment, including the possibility of these smaller sheep breeds becoming caught in Bramble, as well as ensuring appropriate welfare measures are in place. At Aldbury Nowers, we've adapted one of our trailers so it can be used as a water bowser. It now has a large water tank attached which has enabled us to have an additional 500 litres of water on-site! Much reducing the frequency the team need to visit to refill the existing, smaller water containers.

“As rare breeds are used for conservation grazing, we can also receive additional stewardship support for keeping these important traditional breeds, which further helps to support our work.”

The Trust has been supporting local farmers with grazing and as a result more nature reserves are being grazed by cattle this year. For example, those currently grazing at King’s Meads would have been on a supply of hay due to lack of forage on the farmer's land caused by the drought. The reserves team saw the opportunity to offer up King’s Meads for grazing, which they took and as a result both the farmer and the Trust are benefiting! Similarly, grazing had also increased at Danemead, Rye Meads, and Beane Marsh in Hertford.

At Thorley Wash Nature Reserve to the south of Bishops Stortford, a rarer sight in the English countryside can be seen, with a herd of Water Buffalo grazing the rare fen habitat for the third successive summer. The animals there are best suited to grazing ditches and marshy areas to improve biodiversity on the site.

The summer’s unusual conditions have highlighted the importance – and the complexity – of conservation grazing.

“Our livestock are vital to managing our nature reserves,” added Anna Daniels. “They are doing work that would otherwise require an enormous amount of manual grassland and scrub management by people, while creating the small-scale variations in habitat that so many species depend on.

“But conservation grazing is never simply a case of putting animals on a reserve and leaving them there. We need to understand the animals, the vegetation, the weather and the needs of the site, and constantly adapt. This heatwave has certainly given us plenty to think about, but it has also shown just how valuable our wetlands and wet grassland nature reserves can be when conditions are difficult elsewhere.”

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