Swimming instructor Katie Cookson leapt into a canal to save a drowning calf after its herd escaped from a farm.

The herd of 40 cows were racing along the Kennet and Avon Canal in Spout Lane, Seend after escaping from a nearby farm last Thursday.

But as canal worker Dominic Barlow tried to round them up a calf fell into the canal.

Mr Barlow and a passer-by tried to pull the calf out using a body strap until Miss Cookson, who was on her way to teach a lifesaving class, stepped in.

Miss Cookson, 34, who runs the Elite Swim School and teaches classes at Pewsey, said: “I was just coming over from dropping my daughter Megan at school and I heard a bit of commotion. Originally I thought someone might have fallen in the canal.

“I walked down and saw it was a calf and stood back to see if the guys could get him out. Then when they couldn’t get him out I thought, I’ll get it.

“I couldn’t stand by and not help it, because of my knowledge and experience. It was my duty more than anything.

“I was already in my swim stuff. I knew if anyone could get in the water it was me.”

Once freed all the cows were herded back to the field and Miss Cookson returned to her van to wrap up warmly in a towel.

For Mr Barlow, who works for the Canal and River Trust, it was the last thing he expected to see as he arrived to do maintenance work on the canal.

Mr Barlow said: “I got a one-tonne body strap out the back of my van and put it around the calf’s neck so he was above water and still breathing.

“We brought it further down the river and we were going to lift him up with the crane on my van, and then the strap came off the calf’s neck and he went across to the other side and got stuck.”