Tuesday 22nd September

Glorious autumnal morning - very warm! All 27 lambs together in far SW corner so went for a walk with a bucket! Definite improvement on last week as all 27 approached me this morning although I was about 10 yards away before deciding to do so. One lamb was a bit confused and tried to eat my trousers!! Lots of pushing and shoving to get their heads inside when I put the empty bucket down to take a photo!

Gates all secure and water (albeit) very green in the trough

STAFF CHECK Monday 21st Sept

Checked and all 27 lambs were looking well. A couple of head strong lambs and keen on the call, and bucket but they are still reserved and a bit daft with the association to tasty nuts still! 

Hopefully time will prevail!

Thank you for your continued support

The grazing team

Sun 27 Sep

 All 27x lambs seem fine. Around half are coming to the bucket when called, so it will make life easier when they all do.

Warm day, but no concerns about flies. 

Trough full and refilling.

Fences and gates fine.

There are 27 lambs here, right?

 

There are definitely 27 lambs in the western enclosure. Would it be possible to please put the confirmed number on the home page of the blog, with a list of the ear tag numbers to help us if we have to report a problem?

Thursday 17th September

All 24 lambs accounted for and looking well. Trough flowing. Hadrian

Wednesday 16th September

 Lovely sunny day, sheep in two groups near the top. Rather confused as I counted 27, presume some more have been added?

A little more interest in me today,no 215 very bold, had their head in the bucket.

Otherwise look happy and frisky.

Tuesday 15th September

Got caught in drizzle this morning. Lambs all grazing mid field so easy to find. However failed my first attempt at being a lamb whisperer! All ran away to begin with but 125/125 ( forgot which?!) came over and stuck its head in the bucket while I was holding it. After a few minutes another arrived very timidly and eventually ate the remaining bit of food from the bucket on the ground. The others turned their back on me and continued grazing! 

Disturbed a couple of roe deer while in the field.

Unable to do check on Saturday 19th September

 I’m sorry but I’m up in Yorkshire next weekend so won’t be able to check on the sheep. Back to normal the following Saturday 

Monday 14th Sept

 Sorry I forgot to check on Monday but have since walked around the field and not seen any issues.

A very satisfactory visit to our lambs today

 The lambs were nicely spaced so I easily counted 24. I had to climb over the fence as I couldn’t open the padlock. A passer-by reminded me it was a private area and I told him what I was doing. I thanked him for caring about the site, and then he recognised me from years ago. I found the lamb treats and took the bucket down to them in the dip, calling all the way, and rattling the bucket. As I got closer some of them put their heads up to see what was going on. I showed them what was in the bucket and they raced up to me and put their heads in the bucket, eventually knocking it over. I was going to leave the bucket but turned back to fetch it, and 2 of the lambs ran up to me even though I had nothing in my hands! I am now officially a lamb whisperer!

The bucket is now back with the tin of nuts.

reserve update

We had a digger down for the day. The digger was used to create scrapes. Exposing and chalk for early succession species that rely on bare chalk, quite specialist and rare associations. The excess material was either spread where we hay cut or used to create a south facing bank which is favourable to an mixture of inverts. 

We also dug pits and installed woody debris in layers with soil. These create hibernaculums for herptilian and on this site primarily common lizard and slow worm.

Thanks all,

Sam

Thursday 10th September

Trough full and all lambs accounted for and looking well

Wednesday 9th September

 24 sheep counted, near the top of the field. Showed no interest in the bucket or me.I left it and walked away but they just wandered off in the other direction. Think this may take a while.....

Monday 7th Sept

 The shyest sheep I can remember , for the first few days they had been staying very close to the gate at the north west corner of the field but today had ventured into the middle of the field which is also longer than I've seen it before at this time of year. All 24 accounted for , looking healthy. Didn't get time for sheep nuts. @sheila theres a box in the gap between the two fields. 

Sheep hiding

 Well I completely failed as a lamb lookerer on my first attempt. I’ve been up there over an hour and counted numerous times ranging from 9 to 22, depending if they were walking or lying down. They are so well hidden in what’s left of a meadow. And I’ve no idea what the race between the fields is so I couldn’t find the sheep nuts either. Sorry. 

Apologies can't do this Tuesday 8th September

Very sorry Sam I'm away for a couple of days - forgot you said the lambs are coming! Back weekly starting on the 15th September and looking forward to lamb training!

Wednesday 2nd Sept - Staff update

 Hi all,

24 lambs checked and accounted for. Trough checked and working.

I’ve dropped off a metal chest in the race between each field. The chest contains some lamb nuts and a bucket to start training the lambs to come to the call.

If you have time, please take a few handfuls of nuts into the bucket and try calling the lambs (“Coooome Onn!” x3) while shaking the bucket. They’re unlikely to respond over the first couple of weeks, so don’t worry if they ignore you!

If it’s not raining, leave the bucket in plain sight for them to investigate once you’ve gone, and make a note in the blog so the next looker can find it.

Soon they’ll learn bucket = treats, then your call = bucket with treats.

All the best,

Sam

Tuesday 1st September - 24 Weather Lambs droped off at Barton Second Compartment

Photo taken by Abbie Central Trainee

Good afternoon all, 

Today we dropped off 24 of the weather lambs from this year, freshly weened from their mothers. They showed no interest in calling for them and heading off in a newly cemented boys gang to nibble at all the new vegitation. 

Thanks so much for keeping an eye on them.