I too have struggled to find them and have adopted a “search pattern” to try and save trudging through the  mud to no avail.

Starting at the railway sleeper bridge over the Gelvert Stream (where the “please shut the gate” sign is with the picture of a cow) I cross the bridge, turn right and walk up the wide track towards the canal with the stream on my right.

A bit over half-way to the canal there are some stepping stones across the stream (currently submerged) and a gate on the other side of the stream which leads to Marlborough Close.

I don’t cross the stream but stay on the main track to the canal but from this point on the cattle can sometimes be spotted on the right - deep in the gorse on the other side of the stream. They seem to have taken a liking to this spot of late and it’s impossible to see them from anywhere else.

If I don’t spot them there I keep walking towards the canal - with all the leaves off the trees you can see right through across Canal Heath. If they are there you keep walking to reach the canal towpath, turn right, cross the weir and go immediately right. There is a little path that leads to the gate.

If there is still no sign, I walk the canal towpath back towards Fleet. Sometimes I find them along the fence there. Finally take the little path on the right before the first bungalow in Pondtail and walk down past the Scout Hut to the main 5 bar gate to the Canal Heath. Sometimes the cattle pop up there even though they have been invisible for the past half - hour !