My 500th activator point achieved in England - thanks chasers!

Thanks to everyone who helped me achieve my 500th activator point while recently back in the UK.

If interested in seeing the “petting zoo” I seemed to find myself in while on May Hill (G/WB-019), view on at

Paul

5 Likes

Great account of your journey Paul - thanks for sharing the “Panda cows” !!
And nice job reaching 500 activation points - I’ll bet you’re on your second pair of hiking boots?!
73 Rick WB0USI

Congratulations, Paul, on the first 500. I’m glad to have made contact to help the process along.

Your “Panda Cows” are Belted Galloways and are used for environmental grazing, keeping down scrub etc. they are on the Malvern Hills too (G/WB-009 area); we saw 14 on Sunday.

Very best wishes for the next 500.
73,
Rod

They have a reputation for being a bit belligerent with humans. Being a grade A softy, I tend to make the distance between Panda Cows and myself as large as possible. I’ll do more to avoid them than many other dairy cattle. If you come to the bit of GM to the SW of me, you see loads and loads of them in the fields. Our contest site is on a farm and the farmer keeps them. He says their meat is much better than other beef breeds like Aberdeen Angus. They have a double layer woolly coat to keep them warm in bad weather and they can survive well on rougher moorland pasture. The coat helps them Winter outside and because they are kept warm meat is lower in fat than cattle lacking such a coat. So not only do the look distinctive but they also taste very good too!

This could be why one or two apparently “disappear” from the Malverns from time-to-time :slight_smile:
73,
Rod

More about the panda cows as found on the Malvern Hills (WB-009) on Sunday. The adults are rather shy creatures and like to hide when being photographed


but the youngsters are more relaxed. This litter of 14 were still in their comfy nest and were happy to pose:

If you wish to continue your study of British wildlife then I recommend the white-eared northern ‘herdie’

which is very nervous so can normally only be approached closely when the watcher is behind a suitable fence.

Good ‘hunting’

Viki M6BWA

Congrats on the 500 Paul - pleased to catch you on that activation. It is maybe a little early to be thinking about the 1000 point summit, but perhaps something special for that one? A beer on the summit is a necessity of course. :relaxed:

73, Gerald G4OIG