Category Archives: Winter

A wintry spring

We are taken by surprise

We were enjoying the lovely spring weather and basking in the sunshine.  The ewes with their offspring had all been turned out onto lush green pasture and the lambs were relying less on milk and beginning to nibble the grass.  Everything was going well and we were discussing how much hay we were expecting to get from our newly reseeded field.

The forecast had said that the temperature was going to drop but we wern’t completely taken by surprise when the chilly but sunny morning turned into a wintry blizzard!

The snow came down thick and fast, huge white flakes settling on the ground and everything else.  We couldn’t believe that in a couple of hours it was inches thick and still coming.

There is a small hut in the sheep field but it certainly isn’t large enought ot house the whole flock, so we battled our way through the snow storm to shepherd all of them into the shed.  It was a bit of a squash but at least they were all tucked up warmly for the night.  We didn’t want to risk losing any lambs due to the weather, not when they had come this far.  There were no objections from the sheep, they couldn’t get inside fast enough!

Although both us and the sheep were horrified by the turn of events, the dogs were delighted, barking with excitement and playing wild games in the snow, all except Fin, who laid down and after only a few minutes, resembled a snow dog.

The following morning it was still there, thick as ever but the sun was out, melting it rapidly.  By the end of the day only a few patches were left and we returned to our previously green landscape, turning the sheep back out into their paddock.

That was definitely the worse snow we have had all winter and hopefully we can now move safely through spring without any more hitches.