Everybody Loves the Beach
When we think of a cow, in our mind's eye we see a cow in a pasture, behind a fence, or in a barn, looking at us with its soft brown eyes, boredom on its face, as it chews its cud. Yesterday, vacationers had a different experience.
It was a hot day. Here, we got a sea breeze in the afternoon, and sea fog rolled in late in the evening. But the rest of Spain broiled, and those who could, went to the beach. Including a cow and its calf.
At Playa de Bolonia in Cádiz, beach goers were left speechless when a large cow and its trotting calf came down to the sands and stood beneath a beach umbrella set over two beach chairs, waiting for the bather who had stamped them there. Whether someone waved a stick at them, or shooed them out, they would not move. The mother even ended up plunking herself down in the shade of the umbrella.
The fact is, the two visitors are part of herds that live in semi-liberty and that have always wandered down to the beach. It's the human beach goers that have usurped the cows' grounds. In fact the Retinta breed, which these two belonged to, have existed in the same area since prehistoric times, when they somehow made it to Spain from the Middle East. I would think their claim to the beach is somewhat stronger than the humans'.
Those were cute. Not so cute was the black cloud of bees that appeared on a beach this past weekend, in Miño, here in Galicia. When people saw that what they had at first thought were mosquitos, were actually bees, they gave them plenty of leeway. When they saw that they landed on a pair of pants hanging from a beach umbrella, they called the emergency number and waited for the rescue. The police then called a bee expert, and in a little over an hour, the new hive was taken elsewhere, to the relief of the bathers, and probably the bees.
Another problem is the over population of wild boars. At some beaches in Catalunya, they make an appearance every summer. Of course, there are people who feed them. Of course, the boars remember. Of course, the boars then get angry if people stop feeding them. Don't be near a wild boar when it gets angry. Then there was a boar in Ares, on the north shore of the province of A Coruña, that seemed to want to play in the sand. The first day it showed up, nothing was done. The second day things started to get serious. The third day, the police showed up to shoo it away, and it led them a merry dance through the dunes. That was in 2014. Since then, it seems to have moved away. But it's not the only place in Galicia where the boars seek the benefits of the salt air. When my husband sometimes goes fishing in the wee hours of the morning, he might find boars hunting wild rabbits in the dunes behind him. As long as he isn't mistaken for a rabbit, he should be okay.
Another unexpected beach visitor showed up at Riazor beach in A Coruña some years ago. Riazor is an urban beach, on one side of the peninsula the city sits on. One fine summer's day, people started screaming and jumping consecutively, as if they were doing a wave, and the kids became exhilirated and started running. A rat was making its way from an area of rocks to a shut-up and abandoned marina building where it made its home. Unfortunately, the beach was occupied at the time, and the rat wasn't exactly inconspicuous, being 20 centimeters (about 8 inches) long, without counting the tail. It escaped as well it could from the objects thrown at it, and the children's hands trying to latch onto its tail. Finally, it made it to the abandoned building, and I bet it decided to make its walks nocturnal in the future.
Too many times we forget that nature is nature, and not always to be tamed. So, we shouldn't be surprised when the animal we see trying to bathe with us isn't the occasional unallowed dog, or the seagull that always tries to eat our sandwiches with us. Just try not to provoke the beast.
It was a hot day. Here, we got a sea breeze in the afternoon, and sea fog rolled in late in the evening. But the rest of Spain broiled, and those who could, went to the beach. Including a cow and its calf.
At Playa de Bolonia in Cádiz, beach goers were left speechless when a large cow and its trotting calf came down to the sands and stood beneath a beach umbrella set over two beach chairs, waiting for the bather who had stamped them there. Whether someone waved a stick at them, or shooed them out, they would not move. The mother even ended up plunking herself down in the shade of the umbrella.
The fact is, the two visitors are part of herds that live in semi-liberty and that have always wandered down to the beach. It's the human beach goers that have usurped the cows' grounds. In fact the Retinta breed, which these two belonged to, have existed in the same area since prehistoric times, when they somehow made it to Spain from the Middle East. I would think their claim to the beach is somewhat stronger than the humans'.
Those were cute. Not so cute was the black cloud of bees that appeared on a beach this past weekend, in Miño, here in Galicia. When people saw that what they had at first thought were mosquitos, were actually bees, they gave them plenty of leeway. When they saw that they landed on a pair of pants hanging from a beach umbrella, they called the emergency number and waited for the rescue. The police then called a bee expert, and in a little over an hour, the new hive was taken elsewhere, to the relief of the bathers, and probably the bees.
Another problem is the over population of wild boars. At some beaches in Catalunya, they make an appearance every summer. Of course, there are people who feed them. Of course, the boars remember. Of course, the boars then get angry if people stop feeding them. Don't be near a wild boar when it gets angry. Then there was a boar in Ares, on the north shore of the province of A Coruña, that seemed to want to play in the sand. The first day it showed up, nothing was done. The second day things started to get serious. The third day, the police showed up to shoo it away, and it led them a merry dance through the dunes. That was in 2014. Since then, it seems to have moved away. But it's not the only place in Galicia where the boars seek the benefits of the salt air. When my husband sometimes goes fishing in the wee hours of the morning, he might find boars hunting wild rabbits in the dunes behind him. As long as he isn't mistaken for a rabbit, he should be okay.
Another unexpected beach visitor showed up at Riazor beach in A Coruña some years ago. Riazor is an urban beach, on one side of the peninsula the city sits on. One fine summer's day, people started screaming and jumping consecutively, as if they were doing a wave, and the kids became exhilirated and started running. A rat was making its way from an area of rocks to a shut-up and abandoned marina building where it made its home. Unfortunately, the beach was occupied at the time, and the rat wasn't exactly inconspicuous, being 20 centimeters (about 8 inches) long, without counting the tail. It escaped as well it could from the objects thrown at it, and the children's hands trying to latch onto its tail. Finally, it made it to the abandoned building, and I bet it decided to make its walks nocturnal in the future.
Too many times we forget that nature is nature, and not always to be tamed. So, we shouldn't be surprised when the animal we see trying to bathe with us isn't the occasional unallowed dog, or the seagull that always tries to eat our sandwiches with us. Just try not to provoke the beast.
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