SILLY moo! This young cow somehow went for a swim in the Itchen Navigation.

There was little chance of it drowning, as it had two life rings around its neck at Palmers Field on the edge of Winchester.

The photo was taken on Monday evening by Leon Croombs who was out walking his dog.

Leon, an operations manager for Virgin Media, said: “The rings were on the bank by the edge of the water and as it was trying to get out it actually pushed its own head through them. It was too deep at that point so it fell back in and carried on swimming.

“When it got out two walkers on the other side of the river got the rings off. It took quite a while for the fire brigade to arrive, and even then it was just a guy in an estate car. But the cow was out of the river before they arrived.”

Robin Chute, Winchester College estates bursar, said: “It is a bull calf that slipped into the canal when having a drink. The calf is fine and both it and the rings are back where they belong.”

The college owns the land and has been grazing cattle there to recreate the historic landscape of pre-World War Two.