A day at office: You never quite know what will happen when you turn up for work at your local wildlife trust. Just the other morning I was sitting at my desk when Nicole, our Oxfordshire reserves officer, popped her head through the door and asked if anyone was free to help move some cows at Iffley Meadows Nature Reserve. It would only take half an hour. I had a few things on my to-do list, but no meetings, the weather was good, so I thought, why not?

As we made our way to the reserve my head was filled with images from Red River, an old black-and-white Western where John Wayne drives a herd of cattle across Texas down to Missouri.

Mounted on horseback, swinging lassos, and firing shots in the air. Lots of mooing, stampeding hooves and yelps. I could already hear the theme tune in the background.

Moving cows underneath the southern bypass in Oxford is not quite the same. This is modern farming; we use a local grazier to move the herd between the two fields which straddle the highway.

Lush meadows: “BBOWT keep cattle on the reserve to help maintain the wet meadows”, Nicole said. “Grazing reduces the nutrient levels in the soil and creates the right conditions for a variety of plants to thrive and provide a valuable area for wildlife.”

In fact, Iffley Meadows is famed for its magnificent spring display of snake’s-head fritillaries — a delicate plant now rarely found in its natural surroundings.”

Watching the flock: BBOWT relies on a team of volunteer stockwatchers to maintain its sheep, cows and ponies across the three counties. As a stockwatcher you are assigned your own herd to take care of, visiting the reserve they are at once a week to count them and make sure they are in good health.

Nicole added: “It’s remarkable how quickly stockwatchers can recognise the different animals. They soon get to know the typical behaviour of the herd and even individuals.”

Driving the herd: The operation to move the cows through the underpass is under way. The other two ‘cowboys’ helping us are both experienced hands. Nicole quickly identifies a few breaks in the fence that the cows might try to escape through. I am back on the plains of Texas . . .

We are in position, each manning their allocated spot. Disappointingly, there are no yee-has and lassos, no shots in the air or ‘Take them to Missouri, Matt’, from John Wayne. Still, 30-odd cows mooing in an underpass is impressive. And I cannot help but make the parallel with the 10,000 head of cattle Wayne drove across Red River in Texas.

The sound of the traffic overhead brings me back to reality. The cows are through to the other side. As we make our way back to the office, I suddenly realise — that was my Red River.

If you would like to be a stockwatcher contact Cathie Hastler cathiehasler@bbowt.org.uk on 01865 788309. Or to find out about BBOWT visit www.bbowt.org.uk