Something that I found surprising when I first moved to England is the presence of livestock in the midst of fairly heavily-populated areas, grazing on common land. I don’t know if there’s a significant incidence of conflict between people (or their dogs) and these animals, but around here they hang around in meadows that sustain quite a high level of pedestrian and bicycle traffic. I have had to shoo cows off a bike path in order to get past. I’ve never found them threatening,* although I have to admit I’ve also never made any effort to find out if they’re easily ticked off.
Today I came across this group of youngsters pouring out through a wrought-iron gate in an old stone wall by the river. By a really unusual stroke of luck, I was not running “late” (which is really just in time as long as you don’t let up the pace or have a flat tire or something), and I was able to stop and snap some photos.
I think the cattle on this meadow are fresh every year.
I’m no you-know-who (no, not Voldemort), but I get a little fix of cattle in the summertime.
Cute, no?
*Contrast that with the young humans who hang around the adjacent footbridge on a hot day, jumping off to swarm unsuspecting tourists in punts and impeding traffic over the bridge. I swear the impertinent little…people…I encountered this year were identical to the ones that boarded our punt over a decade ago when I came to visit.
