Agitated cows

Image: © Jeremy Bolwell Taken: 21 Oct 2012

This herd, comprising cows and calves, was happily grazing until they spotted me, upon which they galloped up in an agitated and indecisve manner, the herd matriarch all a-doo-da and fearing the worst. I attempted to reassure them by chatting in a friendly manner and crossed the field boundary to minimise the risk of being stomped on or bowled over. But to almost no avail, they butted and shoved each other, youngsters skitted off, the whole experience too overwhelming for them. They followed me along the hedgeline and then bounded off down field, determined to wring the maximum drama out of this saga. Sadly, almost every year I read of dog-walking pedestrians squished by such herds somewhere or other in the UK and this is just the herd to achieve that - excitable, irrational, gormless and bovine in ignorance and outlook. Discretion advised. If I see calves I give the herd a wide berth. If I see a big reaction and 'a flying wedge' forming up I hop over the hedge. It has served me well.

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0