Chasing Fluffy Highland Cows (and Finally Finding Them on My Doorstep!)

I have a serious weakness for Highland cows.

You know the ones - big ginger (or sometimes black) walking teddy bears with fringes that look like they've just come from the 1970s hair salon. I love other people's photos of them, I love paintings of them, and I really, really wanted my own.

So began the Great Highland Cow Hunt.

Attempt #1 - Baslow Edge, Peak District

Rumour had it a herd had been happily grazing there for 40+ years. Then one dog-walker complained and they were due to be moved. Panic stations! I threw on walking boots, grabbed the camera and set off on a chilly, grey Sunday.
Result: miles walked, lots of cow-pats, zero cows. They were clearly playing hide-and-seek in the bracken. At least the view was stunning.

Attempt #2 - The Grand Scotland & Islands Tour

If anywhere was going to be wall-to-wall fluffy coos, surely it was Scotland, right?

Ferry-hopping from the west coast all the way to Stornoway and back... I saw zero until the drive home from the Butt of Lewis lighthouse. Spotted two in a field! By the time I'd parked on the single-track road and run back, they'd retreated to the far corner and lay down with their backs to me. Rude.

Loch Ness? Cow-free.

Every lay-by? Cow-free.

Until almost Stirling, where three very grumpy black ones were basically chained to a café car park for tourist photos. I felt so sorry for them I almost didn't take a picture (but I did - and that's the half-photo-half-drawing print you can see below).

I gave up. Clearly Highland cows and I were not meant to be.

Fast-forward to last week...
I'm pootling along some back lanes near my house in Rotherham (giving the car its weekly run to keep the battery happy) when I turn a corner and...
THREE young Highland cows staring at me. In golden-hour light. Camera on the passenger seat.

I may have squealed.

I stopped, said hello, took a ridiculous number of photos, and drove another 100 yards... to discover ANOTHER field with six or seven more!
Ten Highland cows within a five-minute drive of home. After I'd driven to the top of Scotland and back.

Moral of the story: sometimes the best subjects are literally on your doorstep. Fingers crossed they stick around for winter - I have visions of fluffy coos in the snow for next year's Christmas cards!

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