Grazing cattle re-introduced to Richmond Park - News - Evening Standard
       

Grazing cattle re-introduced to Richmond Park

Cattle have returned to Richmond Park for the first time in 60 years.

Ecologists hope the British white-Gloucester cross cow and her three-month-old calf will graze areas enough to encourage small flowers such as harebells to thrive. The pair were released into a four-hectare enclosure on the park's Sawyer's Hill this week.

If the five-year trial, run by the Royal Parks, Natural England and Hounslow Urban Farm, which supplied the animals, is a success more cattle may be introduced. Dozens of cattle used to roam the park until the Forties but officials don't know why they left.

Unlike deer, which prefer to eat woody vegetation, cows love lush grass. Their grazing should gradually create gaps between the dense tussocks, allowing flowers to flourish.

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