"Should I Call The Ambulance ..."

Much of my adventures are taking place in the grazing fields nearby. The stonewalls and hedges being an excellent spot for insect observation, as well as the little wooded areas in between. 

But recently, an object of great interest has been this:

 Next time you see one, spend some time observing them.

Hopefully, it will be a very busy pile of dung!

Therefore I spend a lot of time following the cows on the hunt for cowpads at different levels of 'freshness', as that attracts different insects.

I do have permission to access the fields and a official walk path leads through some of them.

Every year, the fields are occupied by calves. Being of a very inquisitive nature, they often come running up, wondering over my being there, in their 'patch'. 

Initially very shy, we slowly got to know each other. When they see me they do come up to say hello, hang around a bit and examine every piece of clothing with their sticky tongues.

There are always some 'cowards' at the back, pushing into the ones at the front as though to say "hey, go on ... check it out, what is she up to now?" How come it is mostly the ginger ones that are at the front when close up?

Oh hello again ...

Once they are satisfied and all is ok, they go about eating grass very nearby. At that point I too continue with what I was wanting to do: to photograph insects that help us keep the pastures clean, such as dung beetles. There is a separate page on this blog about the 'natural pasture cleaners' - see to the right.

With there being a walking path going through the fields, I do meet the occasional dog walker and we do have a little chat now and then. One such dog walking lady told me a quite amusing story the other morning:

She was, as usual, walking through the fields with her dog when she saw a human lying in the field, surrounded by cows. Worried that the cows may have attacked someone, she was considering ringing the ambulance, when she suddenly remembered speaking to me some days earlier. At that moment she realised it was me laying on the ground, surrounded by cows, taking photographs!

This story did  make me laugh! Admittedly I do land up in the strangest positions while wanting to get a better angle on things but I never even thought that someone might be worried about my safety.

Over the past weeks, their expressions have become much softer as they are getting used to me being in their field. 

Lovely creatures with soft, warm eyes.

 One of the subjects of interest: a dung beetle, going in!