Peak district national park

Frightened walker asks “Surely the footpath could be fenced off just like it had been done leading up to this section?”

Incident number:1220

Response ID: 328,248,081

Location: Back Forest Farm, River Dane, near Wincle & DaneBridge, Peak District ///wasps.promote.homelands

Date 26/01/26

Single walker, no dog

SY’s Report: “I was heading back to DaneBridge/Wincle from Gradbach/Black Forest. I’d walked by Back Forest Farm along the path between their fields and came to a gate/stile. As I crossed over the stile and looked into the field ahead I could see that there were cows on the footpath and the surrounding field which was on higher ground. The cows saw me and seemed calm and didn’t seem fussed by my appearance. The path is narrow and there are trees immediately after the gate/stile and along the stream/river to the right which is down a steep bank. Because the cows were on the path I attempted to walk to the left of them on slightly higher ground I then heard stampeding and I looked uphill to see a cow running down the hill towards me and rearing its front legs and bucking – it was only a few meters away, I looked to my right and there were cows on the footpath who were now spooked by the cow and I had no choice but to run towards these cows away from the chasing cow and jumped down a very steep bank into the little stream/river and hoped that they wouldn’t chase me. I looked back and they all seemed very agitated so I tried to climb up the steep bank on the other side which was hard as it was wet and muddy and the ground kept falling away from me but there was no other way out. I eventually managed to climb up and ran back to the gate/stile. I was very lucky to escape and I think in part that was due to the fact that I could jump down a steep bank and climb out which wasn’t easy.”

Further comment: “The farmer has a lot of land here so why are the cows being allowed in the small section with the only footpath? Surely the footpath could be fenced off just like it has been done leading up to this section?”

Helen and her sister surrounded and chased by aggressive cows in the Peak District.

Response ID 310,136,770
Incident number 1044

Date: 16.11.24
Site: On the path across the fields between Long Dale and Weaddow Lane near Elton, Derbyshire. Peak District National Park – Derbyshire Dales District Council. ///potential.comic.clusters SK 19246 60923
Type of cow: Group of Cows and bullocks. 2 walkers, dogs on lead.

Helen’s report: “The cows were in a large group near the footpath gate into the field. There was a feeder near by and some were eating from it. We entered the field with our three dogs on leads and kept to the footpath by the wall to go round the cows. They started coming towards us and we spread our arms wide and shouted for them to go away. They then charged towards my sister and her two dogs and pinned her against the wall. My dog had an orange coat on and they didn’t seem interested in her but, lead by two aggressive cows the others started jumping up on their back legs and surrounded my sister and her dogs. One cow head-butted her twice and was stamping its front legs trying to get to her dogs who were hiding behind her legs.
She started screaming and I ran back and shouted at the cows who did run back a bit. We quickly let all the dogs off the leads and I picked up my dog and she picked up her old dog. The cows then all started charging towards us and her young dog ran off down the path. The herd of at least 30 cows (who we think were bullocks but can’t be sure as we were in shock at the time) all charged off after her dog at full pelt. We followed down the hill as fast as we could to try and get to her dog, who is less than a year old. After about half a mile the cows all ran up across the field and my sister checked her dog tracker and saw the dog was ahead of us and had run up to the top of the field. She whistled her dog and it ran back to her. I had gone through a gate down the footpath track and she passed me her dog over the fence and walked back up to the gate to come down the path. We weren’t injured but at one point I did think the cows were going to kill my sister. She was so upset thinking they were going to kill her dog, and then worried that the dog had run off and would be lost and traumatised.
The dog that the cows were trying to get to was quite traumatised and was shaking like a leaf when we retrieved her.
I haven’t yet reported this incident but I am going to look at reporting it to the ramblers association and The Local Authority as we are very concerned that it could have caused very serious injury and could happen again to someone else.”

Farmers should take responsibility for the safety of walkers and the wellbeing of their cattle.

Incident number: 1007

Response ID: 307,707,670

Date of incident: 18.09.24

Location: SK142589 – Peak District National Park, near Hartington at the very end of Reynards Lane (Biggin Dale end) – immediately adjacent National Trust land.

Status: Two people with no dog on PRW

Leigh’s story

“We were walking on a very popular and busy footpath – well over a dozen groups of walkers, many with dogs, had passed us in the previous 15 minutes; including the farmer himself riding a quadbike. When we came upon a gate adjacent to the footpath there were a large group of distressed cattle that had gathered at the gate, bellowing very vigorously. A number of groups of walkers had gathered there, asking each other what had caused the commotion. We carried walking along Reynards Lane towards Biggin Dale, with the herd of cattle separated from us by a dry stone wall. As we walked the herd followed us. A large bull walked behind the herd and a numbers of walkers passing in the opposite direction commented on the size of him. As we were walking a number of cows were mounting each other, while others were feeding their calves. When we got to the end of the lane, about 200m further on, which then became a footpath, we saw that the farmer had left another gate to the field wide open, along with a gate to another field on the opposite side of the lane. Some cows were crossing the lane, others with their calves were standing in the middle of the lane, completely blocking the way forward. These being the same group of cattle that had been visibly distressed not five minutes earlier, we were very anxious about pushing our way past them. We waited a while until other groups of walkers appeared from the opposite direction, who in turn waited until more groups of walkers appeared. Eventually each group felt safe enough in the presence of others to walk forward, to which the cattle gave way, while still bellowing. It’s a walk we’ve done a number of times before and the gates have never been open. It seemed perverse to us that the farmer had decided to open or leave the gates on either side of a busy path in a national park wide open, especially since he will have been very aware that his cattle were distressed. Was he deliberately trying to cause on incident or scare walkers away?”

Leigh added “Farmers to take responsibility for the safety of walkers and the wellbeing of their cattle. In this instance the herd of cows, bullocks, calves and a bull were already in a very large group of connected fields with a water tank. If the farmer wanted to move them to the fields on the other side of the lane, why didn’t he herd them across? Why did he simply leave the gates open on either side of the lane when it was clear that the path was very busy, many groups had dogs and his herd were clearly distressed?”