Man scaled cliff carrying newborn foal to return it to its mum

A man took it upon himself to climb down a cliff and rescue a newborn foal which had fallen before carrying it back to safety to be with its mum. After discussing the predicament with the fire service and coastguard, which attended the incident, Rob Morgan, a fifth-generation farmer who runs Rhossili Sunflowers and Gower Fresh Christmas Trees, decided to climb down to the foal which has fallen from the cliff in the Rhossili area on May 8.

Mr Morgan managed to carry the foal, who had been born that day, back to the cliff top and reunite it with its mum. We reported only last month how Mr Morgan, who tends to the horses on the cliffs on behalf of their owner Nicky Beynon, had encouraged people to keep their distance from the horses.

It came after incidents of people having got too close to the animals and scaring them,resulting in a horse falling off a cliff and another losing its pregnancy just weeks before the foal was due to be born due to what was described as the "negligence and stupidity" of some dog owners. You can read more about that by clicking here. For the latest Welsh news delivered to your inbox sign up to our newsletter.

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Reliving the events Mr Morgan said: "Luckily we were on the way there to plant sunflowers when my phone started to go from all explaining the situation. I met Nicky there. I thought it was going to be a fatality. The mother was distraught attempting to get to its foal as they live for the moment to have a foal.

"There wasn't much time. I know the cliffs and terrain for most of Gower having being brought up and taught by many fishing and I've been up and down most parts of the area. I was able to get down to it after a climb and the foal was motionless. After some quick assessment with Nicky we decided the best option was to get it up the cliff so I carefully carried it back up. It was an interesting climb but I didn't think of much else than getting it back to its mum. The foal stayed calm – I think it knew it was in safe hands, I hope.

"It laid motionless at top with a relieved mum for a while so I wasn't sure if there was injuries but amazingly, with mum's encouragement, it stood up. It was a huge relief to us all. We left them bond and get over their ordeal in the sunflowers and Nicky took them home to keep outside his house. He said he's never seen a mum love a foal so much. It was a great ending as it was a fair drop. It was a great job by all and the public on the day."

The National Coastguard Institution for Worm's Head has now issued a plea to people to keep their space from horses while in the area. A statement read: "At lunch time on Wednesday, May 8, a member of the public came to our hut to report that a very young foal had fallen off the cliff. Whilst we reported this to Milford Haven Coastguard one of our watch keepers went to the cliff top and reported back the What3Words location of the incident. This is a wonderful method of giving an exact location to the coastguard.

"We alerted the owner of the foal and the coastguard alerted the fire and rescue service. Rob of Rhossili Sunflowers arrived and after discussing the situation with the fire service Rob decided to climb down to the foal. He then somehow managed to carry the foal back to the cliff top. The apparently uninjured foal, who was only born that day, is back with its mum who is now obsessed with her new arrival. They are both safe at their farm. It seems the foal might now be named Lucky. Although we believe this was a pure accident we renew our pleas to give the horses plenty of space, especially no selfies. If you see any type of accident or incident around our area report it to us as we have direct contact with the other emergency services via the coastguard. Well done to all involved."