Bright Days!

The weather picked up, sunshine became the order of the day and the shearing got into full swing.

 

On a recent gather I was surprised to see there were still some remnants of cotton grass hanging around. It seems a long time since lambing time and there was a tremendous show of cotton grass on the little bit of wet ground out on the hill which I lambed on, on returning to the North Tyne I did find the cotton grass disapointing, no where near as heavy a crop as over the border. Just last week early one morning I came across this little heap of the stuff whilst gathering, there is still some hanging on when I thought the season was over.

 

The bell heather is also flowering, it comes out earlier in the year than the heather we are accustomed too which covers our hillsides with a purple blanket in August/September time. A pleasure to see and appreciate on an early summers morning with the sun just beginning to throw it's heat at us.

The gathering was for lamb marking and drawing the hoggs off ready to be shorn. This is one of the most difficult gathers of the year as the lambs have never been disturbed in this fashion before. They are still young and this is their first experience of being gathered. A panic can set in as some of them lose their mothers (I recall when very little I lost my mother in a supermarket, I too began to panic!).

The sheep are set down from the hill and find themselves grouping up untill all the flock are held together in one big bunch, this is when the panic really begins to set in. The shepherd becomes aware of more lambs at the back of the bunch of sheep than there are ewes. These lambs may well try to break back to their hill ground, the area where they last saw their mother. They are wild, spring and bounce around and can run at one heck of a speed. The answer is to keep the pressure on them. Keep the dogs pushing the sheep on and holding them in a bunch, relax your guard and you may find many lambs broken away from the main flock, running for their lives and showing little respect for a dog. Wildlife programmes on the telly which show gazelles jumping, twisting and bounding to escape their hunters would best describe the way a lamb is capable of reacting, they can truly test the stamina and patience of the dogs.

 

The above photo shows ewes and lambs held in a bunch. These were the sheep we had been gathering. Towards the end of the gather (just as the lambs are beginning to mis mother) they had to cross a burn, in the process a number of lambs got left behind and broke away from the crowd. The best way to try and get everything reunited was to bring the sheep back to the burn and hope the lambs could be driven to them. So, the above photo is of the flock being turned back to the handful of wayward lambs on the opposite banking. It would have been ideal to have some sheep cross back over the water to help gather the lambs up, however, with two men and three dogs on the opposite bank the sheep were not going to volunteer that, the best I could do was hold them up whilst the other staff battled on with frightened lambs. Eventually all was well, lambs were reunited with the rest of the flock.

The sun was well risen, the heat was up and dogs were allowed to wallow in the burn to cool off and drink before resuming the journey towards the pens.

Inclement weather

Good old Tarset, she is throwing her usual weather at us - rain! Actually there is quite a variety in the forecast at the moment, there is rain, showers, heavy showers, sunshine and showers, big showers, little showers, very very wet showers, persistent rain interspersed with showers. You name it, so long as it involves precipitation, we seem to be getting it.

 

The foal above seemed to think if it stood in front of it's mother it may get some shelter from one of those unrelenting showers!

Unfortunately the weather is causing problems with work. We are now in the shearing season, it has always been preferable to shear sheep when they are dry. Wet, when packed into the wool sheets, can go mouldy or worse and so everyone endeavours to make sure their fleeces are dry when removed from the sheeps back, although it has been known (and is happening at the moment) that wet fleeces get hung up in the sheds to air dry before being wrapped and packed, unfortunately fleeces are quite big and many will take up more room than is available so it isn't the ideal solution.

There has been the odd miracle, many days the weather improves in the evenings and on one such evening Shep was ecstatic to be able to get some sheep clipped outside.

 

Clipping outdoors is often a bind. Rain is an obvious problem, sometimes it can be too hot (hard to believe at the moment) with the shearer struggling under the heat of the sun, there is also the issue of wind which can blow the fleece around as you are attempting to remove it. The evening these sheep were done the conditions were almost perfect except for the midges that is. Tiny little biting flies which can send you demented (some of us may already be demented!) a good anti-midge spray can save the sanity if put on in plenty of time before the blighters get a chance to draw blood and cause the itch.

 

These sheep were shorn in the field which they graze, my car is just out of view on the roadside and the clipping machine is attached to the car battery enabling me to clip them electrically rather than with hand shears. The set up is not a good one, in fact it is a pretty lousy set up. One big pen to hold the sheep and myself.

I suppose I could have taken my clipping race along but instead I was fortunate and the other half offered his assistance. The last thing you want when shearing is a mob of sheep running over the top of you which is more than possible in a set up such as this. Fortunately the other half caught a sheep whilst I guarded the machine and hand piece, then whilst I clipped one he stood guard to prevent the rest of the 'flock' from charging around the pen.

 

The clipped ones end up mixed with the none clipped sheep, slowly whittling them down until they are all shorn and the job is done. It was a huge relief to get these sheep shorn and out of the way, with the weather the way it has been lately the thought of clipping outdoors can give you a headache, many a time you can get half way through and the weather breaks, sheep, shearer and gear get wet. We were lucky and they ran away naked without a drop of rain hindering us in the process.

 

Just as well the car was needed to power the clipping machine as it also came in handy for shifting the wool sheet and transporting it to a shed for storage.

Hard to believe from seeing those shots that it rains a lot, but it does - honest! In fact I was foolish enough to look up the BBC long range weather forecast and have been in denial ever since, it seems to suggest there is unlikely to be much change in the near future - surely not? That must be a misprint - it can't keep raining, the sky will dry out eventually, will it not? It's summer now - officially so, that means sunshine and things doesn't it?

 

I attempt to cheer myself up by finding beauty in the wetness, such as this sorrel, or the rhododendron flower below

 

I have to say that to date the following two photos are my favourites. Red clover looking like it is bejewelled with diamonds. I imagine fancy restaurants that serve up sugared fruits (I've seen them on the telly, don't do the fancy restaurant thing meself - prefer a full belly than a fancy looking little plate of something). I could imagine this clover flower adorning a finely sliced lamb steak which is finished off with a dribbling of some sort of red sauce. Mind I aint too sure what it would taste like but mebbes you're not meant to eat these ornate dressings. I do know tho' that if you pull the petals of clover and suck the nectar it is lovely and sweet so mebbes they could be eaten - who knows? but at least my imagination keeps me amused during some of those soggiest moments which the British weather throws at us

 

 

Roman Wall Show 11th June 2011

 

Is it really a year since the last twicey show? Blimey! how time flies, they do say though that time flies when you're having fun so I guess I must have been having a lot of fun over the last year!

Once again the Roman Wall Show had a tremendous turnout of sheep present. It never fails to amaze me that the show is so early in the season, not long after lambing time and yet the quality and quantity of sheep present is awesome, a credit to the industry, it has to be one of the best sheep shows in the area, regardless of the time of year.

 

The two photos above show the first mule ewe lamb class to be judged. These are mule lambs out of the blackfaced ewe and there were 36 (if my counting was correct) in the class to be judged with only 3 prizes to be won. The mule is a cross bred sheep. A bluefaced leicester tup is crossed onto the hill breeds of blackfaced or swaledale sheep to produce the much desired mule, a breed which is the mainstay of the 'in-bye' breeding flocks. Northumberland, due to the number of hill ewes present in the county, produces a lot of mule lambs and a show such as the twicey show is a great shop window to advertise your wares before the autumn sales commence.

 

The final line up above, the 36 were whittled down to three, with first prize going to Whiteside.

 

 

Classes for mule lambs out of the swaledale ewe were also hotly contested, with the overall champion being one of these lambs bred out of the swaledale from High Town (note the sky - the weather was changing!)

 

Swaledale sheep were also being judged. It isn't always possible to view all the sheep being judged at once, supporters of a particular breed tend to watch the judging of that breed and miss the other breeds on show due to the sheep having their own 'show rings' to be set out into to be judged, these are not side by side and so I had to take a quick gander around to catch up on some of the other breeds, unfortunately I overlooked the blue faced leicesters!

 

 

There are only classes for four breeds of sheep at the Roman Wall Show. These being Blackfaced, Swaledale, Blue Faced Leicester and Mule ewe lambs. There was however a Texel group shown in the committee members class, this being a class open to all breeds of sheep bred by a member of the show committee.

 

There were many various classes to be judged within the blackfaced breed of sheep and the skies became more and more threatening as the judging commenced.

 

 

The weather finally broke, the beer tent filled to over flowing as all those hardy souls ran for shelter. Shep headed for the car and returned donned in wellies and leggins, then hit the beer tent!

 

I did squeeze under a brolly for a short while whilst group and committee classes were judged. The overall sheep champion of the day was eventually awarded to a blackfaced tup from Sewingshields, the Murray lads looked soaked and bedraggled but cheerful with it. No photo - sorry!

Not only did it turn wet but unbelievably cold with it. The childrens sports were cancelled but all the hound and terrier classes went ahead, even the cumberland wrestlers braved the conditions and fought it out throughout the rain. Leaving the showfield became difficult with some of the stall holders finding themselves pushed off by willing youngsters, my sturdy old car made it off without too much bother, the showfield had turned greasy but there was no depth of mud so I was fortunate, however, I didn't leave it too late, preferring to leave before the ground got too churned up.

A shame to have the weather break, but lucky also that it held out for most of the sheep judging, those who were going to attend the show were in attendance, had paid to get in so hopefully the show itself will not have suffered too much of a financial loss. Regardless of the weather it was a good day, an excellent show of sheep and many a crack (conversation) was had, catching up with folks not seen since before the lambing.

Grey days

 

Good old British weather, it never fails to surprise one. It is June in Tarset, anyone visiting Tarset at the present time could be forgiven for thinking we are heading into winter, we're not however, we are rapidly heading towards the longest day and the height of summer - honest!

Since lambing time the weather has been playing catch up. The spring weather was kind and many did question whether it was too early, although gratefully received all the same. Are we now getting the weather we ought to have had at lambing time? We have had very strong cool winds, the sort of winds which stop you from raking (moving) the sheep as they bounce off leaving their lambs in shelter and then can't hear their lambs bleating and the lambs can't hear their mothers calling either.

We had a twenty four hour spell of rain and gales, gales which took lives and sent trees crashing to the ground. We had a two day heatwave, temperatures in the 20's and feeling very hot with it, a sudden downturn saw us replacing all the layers of clothing which had been discarded on the two hot days. Not good for man nor beast as stock found themselves sheltering from the burning rays of the sun then sheltering the following day from cold winds and rain.

I am sitting in the house in the very early evening, rain lashing against the windows, electric light on in the room and the wind whistling down the chimney causing the smoke to billow out into the room from the fire which is roaring in the hearth in a bid to keep ourselves warm. This is a June evening, it ought to be warm and light, not dark and cold. I ought to be outside doing, not inside not doing. Good old British weather!!

Farmers further south have been suffering a drought, crops are spoiled, some haven't even been sown, the government have been holding meetings with farming bodies to discuss irrigation issues, water shortages and presumably what could ultimately be food shortages, whilst here in Tarset we have grass and moisture - there's something to be thankful for!!

Much work has been done since Shep returned from the lambing. Lamb marking has finally almost come to a close, this being the first time ewes and lambs are gathered to deal with any medicinal needs of the flock. Hogg shearing has commenced with Shep relieved to find my body still works and bending over to shear sheep is still possible, the shorn hoggs aren't quite so enthused tho' as any dust left lingering on their naked bodies is either blown or washed off their backs, they can be seen hiding behind dyke (wall) backs trying desperately to gain some shelter from the elements.

You could be forgiven for thinking it is gloomy times and indeed there is much could make one gloomy if one would allow. I, however' am a great believer in finding something to cheer yourself up, I have always said there is beauty all around, regardless of the weather, you just have to open your eyes and see it. So I trotted off with camera in hand in desperate need of losing myself in another world, a world away from grey days.

I hope the following photos will express how anyone may find wonderment and beauty regardless of what ever the real world might throw at you.

 

a raindrop as it hits a puddle, that is not the sun reflecting from the puddle but the automatic flash compensating for gloomy conditions

 

the ripples on a puddle left in the wake of a raindrop falling

 

 

raindrops on the seed heads of grasses

 

 

an abandoned crook