Reserve's Highland cattle become TikTok stars

A nature reserve said it had had an udderly "bonkers" summer after its Highland cattle became a TikTok sensation.

Fans of the flame-haired beauties at Taverham Mill shared their close en-cow-nters on social media, with some posts racking up hundreds of thousands of views.

Thousands of people have now followed the herd to the beauty spot, near Norwich, which had previously only attracted a few hundred visitors a year.

"It's gone a bit crazy, we've never seen numbers like it," said reserve manager Harry Waye-Barker, who met one group who had driven from Devon.

"They'd seen them on TikTok and decided to get in the car and head straight for Taverham Mill.

"I was shocked - I said 'you must have come past thousands of Highland cattle, but you're here now, enjoy yourselves'.

"People have always had a close connection to the cows, but I've never seen anything like the past couple of weeks, it was bonkers."

Harry Waye-Barker had to draft in his family to help man the meadow

The reserve is run by Anglian Water and has had summer-grazing Highland cattle for more than a decade.

It is unclear why they have suddenly become stars of social media.

"It was into the thousands [of people here] on Bank Holiday Monday," added Mr Waye-Barker.

"I'm so thankful to local community and schools [which] have offered up car parking spaces, and my staff and volunteers - without them we really would've been stuck.

"I even had my own family here manning the meadow and making sure the cattle were OK

"It's been a real team effort, we've pulled through and now we're getting back to a bit of normality - but it's been lovely to open up to new visitors and people who haven't seen them before."

The herd has had a moo-mentous summer

The seven females help with conservation by chomping on the water meadow - but all the meeting and greeting with their fans had started to have an impact on their important work.

Sugar beet-based treats available at the reserve to feed the cows have been temporarily banned, as it was putting them off their regular diet.

"It was just the sheer numbers," said Mr Waye-Barker.

"We went through 100 bags in the first hour one day - we've had to put a stop on that for a couple of weeks because we want to get them back to the grassland."