I have been videoing the sheep when I visit as I will make a little film for Doisy and Dam - if they agree to the interviews! But Di Ancaster has taken some glorious photos... which I might sneak into the film!
BTW, in the sixth picture down, the lamb resting against her mother's back is Patchy. Tom's favourite. She, Tom told me, is staying with him for ever!
Daisy too offered a better photo than I could add to this post.
When I was there this time, I did witness something wonderful.
A ewe had triplets. Two of the lambs were with her but one, said Tom, had toddled off. That's a problem as the ewe then focuses on the two. Also, for sheep lambing in a field, having three lambs can be tricky. But as another ewe was struggling to give birth to her first lamb, a single, Daisy and Tom decided to wet-foster the toddler.
I turned up as the ewe had just given birth to her baby - the other lamb had been covered in the... well, blood and so on so she smelled like this family. Daisy and Tom penned the ewe with the babies and gave her time to get to know them. She has to 'like' them. And as this was her first pregnancy, you can't be sure. Especially as she had a cuckoo in the nest. D&T bound the legs of the lambs - if one suckled the ewe could ignore and reject the second.
The ewe was wonderful. At first she had tried to butt the incomer away, but soon she was licking both. We left them for half an hour and then Daisy undid the ties.
Both Daisy and Tom were so happy. To have intervened in a good way. They want the sheep to be as undomesticated as possible. And they only want to intervene when it helps. But you can never know. This time, five stars. A happy family.
Wonderful photos and the "good intervention" story! Exciting for you to be there while this was happening. Looking forward to the film.