BUFFALO COUNTRY

It’s a sunny spring day in Somerset, with a hint of chill in the air. I’m on the Levels: 250 miles of coastal plain scattered with villages and farms, and one of England’s dairy heartlands, home of the world-famous Cheddar cheese. Cattle speckle its lush green pastures: from Devon reds and rare sheeted Somersets to the familiar black and white hides of the Holstein Friesian.

But here, between the A37 Roman Road and the winding banks of the Oakley Brook north of Yeovil, something exotic lurks behind the billowing hedgerows.

I turn a corner in the broad hedge and find myself a few metres away from her. She has a huge, sweeping pair of horns. Thick brown hair and a purple-blue tongue. She grunts deeply and chews, her eyes focused intently on mine. This