The first Highland cattle (one bull and six females) arrived at Wicken Fen on June 7th 2005. The first group were joined by two more females from the same organic farm on Mull (western Scotland) in September 2005. Eight calves, two bulls and six heifers, were born during 2006. A further eight calves were born in 2007, so our Highland herd is now 25 strong.

The herd graze the fen around the Mere and the restored wet grasslands of Baker's Fen, on the Adventurers' Fen part of Wicken Fen nature reserve. Together with the Konik ponies, the Highland cattle form part of the extensive, year-round grazing management of the Wicken Vision land.

Why are there Highland cattle at Wicken Fen?

The Wicken Vision is an exciting, landscape-scale 100-year plan to extend Wicken Fen by over 1000% to create a large nature reserve for wildlife and people. The long-term aim is for the soil and water conditions to primarily determine the habitats, with free-ranging large herbivores adding variety to the habitats and to be a sustainable management tool for developing this dynamic landscape.

The large grazing animals need to be fit for this purpose. The Highland cattle we have are ideally suited. The original nine cattle came from a farm on Mull where they ranged widely to find their food and lived outside all the time. Thus they are hardy and capable of living outside all year at Wicken Fen and they are doing so well at Wicken that every mature female produced a calf in 2006 and 2007.

In the past, there would have been lots of hardy cattle in the fenland area, as part of the local farming economy, before the major shift towards arable crops that followed the improved drainage of the fenlands. There would have also been cattle driven south through the area on their way to the markets of southern England and London.

So we have brought back a hardy, old breed of cattle that is ideally suited to living on the wetlands and grasslands that we have created as we develop the Wicken Vision. They are now a key part of our nature reserve management team.