A SMALL herd of Belted Galloway cattle has been rounded up to rescue a rare breed of butterfly fluttering hundreds of miles from their home.
By helping to restore the threatened limestone grassland of
Rodborough Common in Gloucestershire, owned and managed by the National Trust, the six-strong group are securing the habitat of the Duke of Burgundy butterfly, musk orchids and skylarks.
The Belties' ability to cope with rugged terrain and thrive on low-quality grazing made them the first choice of the National Trust to improve what is, with a neighbouring common, the second-largest tract of unenclosed grassland in the Cotswolds.
And, according to the trust's Matthew Oates, the Belties' distinctive broad white bands and overall Panda-like markings give them the ''wow factor'' with the public, winning hearts and minds and raising awareness of the common's regeneration.
''Our objective is to help the common and the Belties are doing their bit. They are a great success at keeping down the scrub on the steep slopes of the common which are almost precipitous in places. Also they are popular with the public, particularly with dog walkers.
''They are very docile, apparently oblivious to dogs and to people too for that matter. Their hooves are small and don't
poach the ground, they eat and fare well on basically dead litter, cleaning up the grass and making it sweeter for other cattle.''
Winston Churchill kept a herd of Belted Galloways at Chartwell and to this day they remain popular as so-called park animals.
John Rutherford, secretary of the Belted Galloway Cattle Society, says that not only can they thrive in the cold and wet of Scotland, but also in warm, dry conditions.
Recessed genes are held responsible for the Belties' distinctive white band and, according to Rutherford, it is so dominant that even when Belted Galloways are crossed with, say, Continental Simmental cattle, the white band is still apparent.
The trust's Belted Galloway herd is expected to increase
in the spring with the birth of a calf. In April the Belties are due
to hand over the cleaning-
up operation to native Hereford cattle over-wintering at local farms.
The Scottish cattle, which are naturally polled, are contained
on the common by electric fence, undisturbed because of the
Belties' lack of horns.
Rodborough Common's 115 hectares have suffered from a lack of commoners running cattle on the land, and the extensive slopes below the plateau now under threat from scrub because of the lack of grazing. Under the rights registered for the common there could be up to 450 animals on Rodborough. There are, in fact, just 180.
The grass, says the trust, is too poor for contemporary beef cattle which must be returned to improved grasslands for finishing in time to meet the over-thirty months scheme introduced after the BSE catastrophe.
Contemporary improvements - in effect, fertilisers which favour unwanted vigorous grasses - which could be made to the grazing quality of the Common, says Oates, would be incompatible with the conservation interest of the land, which is protected as an Site of Special Scientific Interest and is also a Special Conservation Area.
Thus the arrival in Gloucestershire of the Belties, bought by
the trust to graze down the scrub and thatch and improve the sward for the more discriminating but less adaptable Simmental and Charolais cattle.
According to a trust report, traditional breeds of cattle, notwithstanding the poor grazing on the steep slopes of Rodborough common, produce fatty, marbled beef which is ''exceptionally tasty''.
The far-travelled Belties are just part of an increasing traffic in rare breeds - cattle, sheep, pigs, goats and ponies - with the ability to render special service away from home.
''If management is to be successful,'' says Oates, ''the problems of selective grazing must be overcome by using appropriate grazing and browsing animals.
''One of the main problems is our reliance on modern agriculture to graze wildlife sites. Stock run by mainstream agriculture is only suited to a narrow range of less challenging conservation habitats where there are no major scrub, bracken or coarse grass problems.''
Which is why a small herd of Tamworth pigs, natives of Staffordshire, are currently doing their bit in the Cleish Hills where they have been put to work ''ploughing'' up a track used by sheep, the aim being to eradicate parasites and promote the growth of clover.
Grazing coarse grass and browsing scrub re-growth as far away as Cornwall and the Isle of Wight are flocks of Soay sheep. Closer to home, Hebridean sheep are helping the National Trust for Scotland to restore Culloden Moor to its appearance before the battle in 1746, when Butcher Cumberland marked the Moor with infamy,.
Typical of the variety of sheep that would have been found
there before the Blackface began to dominate Scottish grazing,
the Hebridean sheep - hardy, weather-proof and light-footed with low maintenance needs - are efficient users of a wide variety of vegetation.
As well as restoring the grass, the Hebridean sheep should bring back a wider plant variety and are expected to halt the encroaching birch, rowan and willow scrub.
Wherever they fight the good fight, today's rare breeds - dog-proof and benign, tough and healthy, ready consumers of
problem vegetation - are truly a winning army.
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