Brian Moore
Moderator
We recently spent a week at my brother-in-law's place in Applecross in the Western Highlands. One afternoon, just as we were sitting down to coffee and home made ice cream with some friends, the phone rang. A calf had been spotted stuck in a bog.
My brother-in-law maintains a small herd of Highland Cattle. They range freely over the hillsides. A calf stuck in a bog means a dead calf before long. Compounding the matter, the next day we were all flying off to France. An injured or sick calf would require nursing, so probably someone wouldn't be going to France. The lot of us, friends and family, headed out to the rescue.
Upon arriving at the scene, some 15 or so miles along the road, we were immediately relieved to see that it wasn't a calf stuck in the bog but a cow, as evidenced by the horns. This was good. But it was also bad. Cows are bigger than calfs.
I tried to document our rescue, but I was busy and so I did not get a lot of images. And some images I shot quickly from the hip so the compositions suffered.
I used my Olympus XA2 (it's very pocketable) with Kodak Tri-X film.
Initial Pull (I had gone to retrieve some more rope from the car and snapped this image on the way back across the field.)
Roped by the Horns (The cow was very heavy.)
Tourists stopped and helped (The roadway being a tourist road, several stopped to offer help, including this delightful young Dutch woman. The help was welcome.) At this point the cow was out of the bog. A combination of pulling and an umbrella poke to her back end got her moving. She was exhausted.
The Fire Brigade Came (Someone called the local volunteer fire brigade but we had effected the rescue before they arrived; they were disappointed.)
Refused to Follow Herd (One cow--a different one--refused to follow the heard. This confused us. I followed her.)
Trying to catch the scent of her lost calf (We reasoned that she had lost her calf.)
She Went in the Loch (Strange behavior. We deduced that she assumed her calf was on the other side of the little loch. We searched but couldn't find it. )
Came Back Out (But then went back in, up to her nostrils! I had run out of film so I didn't get a picture of that.)
We got to France the next day. But two days later we got a call. The cow who had lost her calf had been found drowned in the Loch.
My brother-in-law maintains a small herd of Highland Cattle. They range freely over the hillsides. A calf stuck in a bog means a dead calf before long. Compounding the matter, the next day we were all flying off to France. An injured or sick calf would require nursing, so probably someone wouldn't be going to France. The lot of us, friends and family, headed out to the rescue.
Upon arriving at the scene, some 15 or so miles along the road, we were immediately relieved to see that it wasn't a calf stuck in the bog but a cow, as evidenced by the horns. This was good. But it was also bad. Cows are bigger than calfs.
I tried to document our rescue, but I was busy and so I did not get a lot of images. And some images I shot quickly from the hip so the compositions suffered.
I used my Olympus XA2 (it's very pocketable) with Kodak Tri-X film.
Initial Pull (I had gone to retrieve some more rope from the car and snapped this image on the way back across the field.)
Roped by the Horns (The cow was very heavy.)
Tourists stopped and helped (The roadway being a tourist road, several stopped to offer help, including this delightful young Dutch woman. The help was welcome.) At this point the cow was out of the bog. A combination of pulling and an umbrella poke to her back end got her moving. She was exhausted.
The Fire Brigade Came (Someone called the local volunteer fire brigade but we had effected the rescue before they arrived; they were disappointed.)
Refused to Follow Herd (One cow--a different one--refused to follow the heard. This confused us. I followed her.)
Trying to catch the scent of her lost calf (We reasoned that she had lost her calf.)
She Went in the Loch (Strange behavior. We deduced that she assumed her calf was on the other side of the little loch. We searched but couldn't find it. )
Came Back Out (But then went back in, up to her nostrils! I had run out of film so I didn't get a picture of that.)
We got to France the next day. But two days later we got a call. The cow who had lost her calf had been found drowned in the Loch.
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