Doug Shepherd's photos with the keyword: Sheep

All, including mother, appear to be sleeping

The view is towards Bowness Knott and Ennerdale, with the Ennerdale Fells beyond the water.

A croft is a fenced or enclosed area of land, usually small and arable, and usually, but not always, with a crofter's dwelling thereon. A crofter is one who has tenure and use of the land, typically as a tenant farmer, especially in rural areas. The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 gives crofters the right to buy their land. The word croft (Scottish Gaelic - croit) is West Germanic in etymology and is now most familiar in Scotland, most crofts being in the Highlands and Islands area.

I disturbed this heron while walking along Scalby Cut, a channel for diverting water from the River Derwent towards the sea in order to prevent flooding downstream. I definitely had the bigger fright!

The subject of their close attention was in fact our two Corgis, who's long dormant herding instincts were coming to the fore. (Both were on leads I hasten to add) Taken near Duntulm Castle, Isle of Skye. Note how the abundance of good Skye rain keeps their wool nice and clean;-)) I have no idea what the single one on the left had said to offend the others!

Herdwick lame seen in Rannerdale, Cumbria Herdwick lambs are born black, changing to grey/white as they grow older.

Herdwick sheep are the native breed of the central and western Lake District and live on the highest of England’s mountains. They are extremely hardy and are managed in the traditional way on the Lake District fells that have been their home for generations. The word “Herdwyck”, meaning sheep pasture, is recorded in documents going back to the 12th century. Herdwick sheep are the most hardy of all Britain’s breeds of hill sheep, grazing the central and western dales of the Lake District with fells running to over 3000 feet. Herdwick farms have typically less than 100 acres of lower, more productive land and rely on the common grazings of the high Lake District fells. The lambs graze with their mothers on the “heaf” belonging to that farm instilling a life long knowledge of where on the fell they should be grazing. This is crucial as the central Lake District fells are inaccessible and a sheep which strays from Borrowdale to Eskdale will involve a 100 mile round trip by road for the farmer to collect it.

Best enlarged The picture was taken by the ruins of Duntulm Castle situated at the northern tip of the Trotternish Peninsula. The castle was built in the 14th and 15th centuries, when the area was subject to feuds between the rival MacLeod and Macdonald clans. The defences were improved in the 16th century, and by the early 17th century the MacDonalds had finally gained the upper hand in the area. During the 17th century it was the seat of the chiefs of Clan MacDonald of Sleat. The land on the horizon to the northwest is the Isle of Lewis and Harris, part of the Outer Hebrides, separated from Skye by the stretch of water called The Minch.