We'vw been watching these geese on the pond in one of the fields. She has a nest in the middle of the reeds in the middle of the pond.

Went back last night and she wasn't sitting on the nest. But there were 2 planks from the edge of the pond to the nest. Somebody had taken the time to carry the wood over our fields and plunder the nest. It's beyond me. But if I catch them.....................

A quick update on Barney and Shelley. They've done really well, both filled out a bit, and are now in the orchard with their Mums. They seem to be getting milk but I'm keeping a very close eye on them. Barney still has those floppy ears but.......... I love him :)

We thought lambing finished with a lovely set of twins on 3rd April. Then one of the gimmers (first time mothers) produced a tiny lamb and within 3 days 2 more gimmers had singles. They're all tiny but one is in the orchard nesxt to the house the other 2 are here in the SCBU.

The one on the left had been out in the orchard but the weather changed and we had a biting wind. This little scrap had a clever knack of finding shelter - to the extent that one day neither I nor the mother could find it hidden behind a large stone against the old piggery wall until we heard the faint bleating. So we brought them in and I'm feeding Shelley (as in shelter. I know name them.....) to help it gain strength.

The one on the right we kept in the barn at the beginning but thought they would benefit from the company and the extra room. Barney (work it out) is a funny looking little thing with ears like a spaniel and a wrinkly coat like one of those expensive dogs. He's beginning to fill his coat a little bit better now.

But I have a slight problem. Both the mothers had been bottle fed by me last year and associate me with food. So when I go in with bottles for the babies they crowd me. It's not frightening - although they are BIG sheep and their breath close to is warm and sweet - but it intereferes with the feeding. So I'm having to barricade myself into a corner behind that old table you see there. I suppose it's my own fault for giving them digestive biscuits ....... :)

JT sowing all day today.

Ploughing started yesterday - beautiful day.

The house sparrows are getting a bit excited........

How about this for spring lamb?

Lambing's over! Yeay! ...... until next year :) I'm still feeding 2 sets of twins but they are out of the SCBU and in the field next to the house so that makes it a lot easier.

They call for me at meal times. Cheek.

Saw my first swallow this week and my first butterfly and my first bee. Must be springtime.

This is JT rounding up some of the sheep to move them to a field with more grass. The lambs are quite uncontrollable but a joy to watch.

Cute eh?! I'm bottle feeding 3 babies at the moment: twins and a surviving single. Both mothers are alive, so they're not orphans, but have no milk. So that's me, 4 times a day, out to my Special Care Baby Ewenit. They're doing ok. Fingers crossed.

It's been hard. I've lost a number of lambs. JT says they would have died anyway and to think about all those that have survived with that little bit of extra help. I've just not hardened up enough yet.

But the good news is that the 3 I'm currently feeding are doing very well.

As I was tramping through sheep shit this morning in order to get to the mothers and babies who needed numbering before turning out, in my milk-impregnated fleece, with my shepherddess's crook and my mucky boots, my thoughts turned to the time when I won Best Dressed Teacher Award - 5 years running. Ho hum.

Awaiting the arrival of the new quad bike.

Fluffy's baby!

Fluffy was my first bottle-fed lamb 2 years ago - so-called because of her woolly coat. She became a pet and last year had her first lamb. This year she's had twins and I was there for the birth of the second one.

She's rather special and comes to the fence for a digestive biscuit. JT says she's the only sheep he knows who follows rather than has to be driven. That's my girl :)

This is my Special Care Baby Ewenit. In the pen in the corner is a mother with QUADS! Very unusual.

Been feeding them 4 x a day, tube feeding in the beginning.Unfortunately we lost one of them and though the remaining 3 are not big fat lambs, they are doing well. She's a fiercely protective ewe and I daren't turn my back on her. I know she's just waiting for the chance the butt me. The other girl on the right is so cool you'd think she'd just had a reefer.

Bye bye bridge. The bridge was put in place when they widened the road to a dual carriageway in 1966. Its sole purpose is to connect the 2 halves of the farm separated by the new road. After the incident in Novemeber when it was hit by the digger on the low-loader on the back of the tractor, they decided it was unsafe. So this weekend we've had multiple massive equipment, night and day. And now it's gone. The question now is: When will they replace it?

Snowdrops in the frost. Aren't they the most hope-giving sign? They fight their way through the hardest ground in the fiercest weather. Love 'em.

This is what a hole through a 500 yr old wall looks like. What you can't see is the 500 yr old dust that I've been battling with for weeks.

It's been worth it - the Facility is now in operation!

The thing about living in a 500yr old house is that when it comes to doing any work, it's never straight-forward.

The chap who's putting in the downstairs bathroom has taken a day and a half to NOT drill through the wall. Built to last eh......

JT has been setting up my SCBU in readiness for lambing.

When he first asked me, 2 years ago, would I be interested in taking on an orphan lamb, I agreed instantly. I knew nothing. It's not like you see in films or pretty pictures. My Cumbrian friend who had sheep said, "Be warned: all sheep try to die. Some start sooner and try harder". NOW I know what she meant. But with all the enthusiasm of the ignorant I went out with my bottle. Of course, if I'd thought it through, I'd have known they would crap on me. It's natural I suppose.

JT said "Two conditions: don't get attached to them and don't give them names".

This is Fluffy. You can see why. She was the tiniest of 3 lambs born to one ewe and just wasn't getting fed. This year she's having twin lambs of her own. Erm....yes. We kept her. More about Fluffy anon.

Yesterday, there was a succession of men in high visibility jackets apparently giving tenders for the removal of the bridge. We now know that this will take over a whole weekend and will involve a great deal of mess and noise.
Question is: when will we get a new bridge?

This is the digger

that was being towed by the tractor

that is being lifted back onto its tracks

after hitting the bridge.............

This is the tractor

that was towing the digger

that hit the bridge..............

This is the bridge
that straddles the road
that divides the farm
that will have to be taken down
that was hit by the digger
that is causing the upheaval
for James.

How beautiful it all is: the view from my back door at dawn.

The sheep are getting extra food in the form of treacle. Yummy Mummy! They love it and it boosts their nutrition.