A Cattle Cluster

Jackie spent much of another very hot morning watering plants; I rendered some assistance with this, but mostly concentrated on dead heading and weeding down the Back Drive.

Before lunch I posted https://derrickjknight.com/2022/07/10/tower-blocks/

Afterwards we took a forest drive.

Along Sowley Lane we followed a tricyclist approached by a motorcyclist and bicyclists whom he acknowledged.

From St Leonard’s Road, with its dry verges,

beyond browning fields we had a clear view of the Isle of Wight and yachts on the Solent.

Tails twitching, cattle clustered, probably as protection from the irritating flies, in a field along Lodge Lane. One bothersome bovine, attempting to mount others, was repeatedly rebuffed.

Sunlight dappled treelined lanes like this unnamed one, which is why vehicles often keep their lights on as they constantly drive from darkness into light, and vice versa.

Among the moorland heather, gorse, and brambles, ponies – also coping with flies in the heat which seems to have exhausted a sleeping foal, consumed their vegan lunch.

After our trip we watched the Wimbledon men’s final between Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios.

Our dinner this evening was similar to yesterday’s except that the Nando’s sauce was Peri Peri Lemon and herb with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I drank Swartland Shiraz 2020.

52 comments

  1. Always a pleasure to be by your side (it seems) through your photography. Looks dry there as it is here in the Massachusetts area – we’re in a mild to moderate drought. And always fun to see what I suspect is a bit of my homeland, as my last name is WIGHT.

  2. The lanes look so cool and green compared to the parched-looking grass. Our cars have lights that stay on all the time (not my husband’s old car though). That little foal looks exhausted.

  3. That is a great gallery of Holstein heifers, Derrick! The mounting behavior is not at all uncommon for yearling cattle. Once they drop that first calf next spring or summer, they’ll be ready for production!

  4. There is always one in the cluster that behaves like that! 😉 😛
    The cluster of cattle seem pretty content and they are creating a beautiful B&W masterpiece.
    Love the shady lane!
    Hope that precious foal got a good nap!
    Oh, those pesky flies! 🙁
    (((HUGS)))

  5. The little foal looks exhausted in the heat. Flies are a real problem in summer. I don’t know if you have ones called horseflies and deerflies over there. They are biters and blood drinkers, and their bite feels like they are drilling for oil.

  6. Last summer, we had a group of young heifers up here. One of them was forever attempting to mount the others, but then, it began standing by the top farm gate, continually mooing.

    Liam, the farm manager, told me the heifer wanted a bull, and there was one in the fields over the lane with a group of older cows and she could smell it! I assume this meant the heifer was in season, but unfortunately for her, she was still too young and would have to wait until the new year.

  7. Your photos of the Holsteins made me homesick for the dairy farms of my midwestern upbringing. They’re such handsome cattle, as well as being photogenic. They always remind me of classic couture: the little black dress with a string of white pearls.

  8. The club of clustered cattle looks interesting. The dappled roads looks inviting. Motorists keeping the headlights on are acting smartly. Flies are one of the most pesky pests invented by Mother Nature —the exhausted, fast asleep foal is proof enough.

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