Bullfight

Bullfighting isn't something that only happens on the Iberian peninsula, not when the Ardnamurchan Estate's bulls are feeling a bit tetchy after being separated from their cows.  A walk back from Mingary Castle to the car yesterday afternoon turned into a nailbiting few minutes....

....as two of the bulls chose to have a fight on top of a cliff overlooking the bay opposite the CalMac ferry slipway.

At first it was the lighter-coloured bull who was getting the best of it - and the clear intention of both animals was to manoeuvre the other so he went over the cliff - but after a few minutes of heaving, blowing and pushing the darker bull began to get the upper hand.

As the fight continued nearer and nearer the edge, and very conscious that these beasts are worth a few thousand pounds each, we tried frantically to get hold of one of the Estate staff who could do something, but as we finally got through....

 ....the lighter bull disappeared over the edge.

Fortunately, the cliff wasn't quite as steep as we had feared.  When we finally found a spot where we could see down the cliff, all five bulls were there, making friends again - though the two who had had the fight were easily distinguished by their bloody foreheads.