A DOG walker was confronted by a herd of cows on Wednesday and needed a gallant gardener to come to her aid.

The incident happened at Lochore Meadows Country Park when the woman was walking her dog on the path round the loch at the Meedies when she came across the cows.

They were quite agitated and knocked over the lady as she tried to protect herself from the animals.

At that stage a Glencraig resident, Tam Cotter, who had been working in his garden when he heard the commotion, arrived on the scene and managed to shoo away the cows with his rake.

He succeeded and the lady was able to be assisted up and went to hospital for a check up having suffered a cut to the face and bruising.

It is the second time this summer that there has been an incident involving cows from around the park area.

In June a big group of cows wandered into Crosshill after someone had left a gate open a from a field.

Park manager Ian Laing was concerned by the incident: "It would appear that something had happened earlier, perhaps with another dog, which had spooked the cows.

"There have been situations with people leaving gates from fields open which really is not good at all.

"We would ask all people using the paths in the park to be very careful when they open a gate to a field to always close it when they are finished.

"I will be meeting with the farmer who factors the neighbouring fields to see if there is anything more we can do to stop this sort of thing happening.

"We really need people to respect the country code when entering and leaving fields."