‘They are formidable creatures’: life with Northumberland’s rare white wild cattle

‘There are certainly animals I would take you a little close to and others I wouldn’t,’ says head warden Ellie Waddington. Photograph: Mark Pinder/The Guardian

From a distance they look so placid and approachable, but you would not want to get on the wrong side of the wild white cattle of Chillingham, one of the rarest animals in the world.

“They are formidable creatures,” says the warden, Ellie Waddington. “If they are cornered, they will defend themselves. Obviously we think of cattle as being big, lumbering, docile animals that we have in fields today … but these guys are a completely different beast.”