Young Mischief

YOUNG MISCHIEF
Easter Sunday seemed rather an appropriate day for the first of our lambs to arrive.  Much to my surprise Katy, our youngest ewe, was the proud mother of twins.  In the past the Queen Ewe, the most dominant one, has always delivered first and dear little Katy is definitely last in the pecking order.  She had her first lamb last year and proved to be an excellent mum but I was a little worried in case she got carried away with cleaning the second one and forgot the first, so I penned her into one of our portable huts just to keep all three in close contact for a day. 
 
People walking across our footpath may have seen two or three bright red shelters with Danger Explosives printed on to the side.  They were used by the R.A.F. to shelter missiles waiting to be loaded into aircraft in a previous life, but now they make jolly useful portable huts for the ewes and their new born lambs.  Katy soon got the hang of things and her twins are doing really well.  I kept her as a replacement for our oldest ewe who had lost most of her teeth and would, quite literally, have found the hay too tough in the winter.  Katy had a beautiful fleece, wonderfully long and crimpey, was nice and small, not too heavy for my poor back and most importantly of all, was extremely friendly, no trouble to catch!
 
Beth, who is now Queen Ewe, produced twin girls a week later, while Bryony had one son the day after Beth. Last year Beth only fed one of her twins and I had to bottle feed the other, but this year she seems to be coping.  Although Katy's are a week older all the lambs are about the same size, as Beth is by far the biggest ewe and Bryony's boy has very long legs. They are great time wasters, one can't help watching them dashing about.  They seem to think Beth is a trampoline and all take turns in jumping on and off her, it's a good job she still has her thick woolly coat!
 
Lots of people in our part of Scatterdells Lane have been having 'close encounters of the badger' kind in the last couple of weeks.  One couple even had a cub in the house, and they have photos to prove it, in the later afternoon.
 
It seems that a couple of very inquisitive cubs are at large, but where have they come from?  As well as popping into the kitchen for some cat food, they managed to get stuck in our neighbour's fence at midnight and then squealed for help.  We heard the rumpus, could not see anything, but our neighbours managed to free them, unharmed, with the aid of a spade. They have been seen in a pony food stores and have sworn at a passing motorist - typical teenager!!  Everyone we spoke to seemed to have seen them but us, until last night's late walk with Ted, our young Labrador, when we saw three badgers, one large, one small and one medium sized in less than five minutes.  The first sign that one was about was the sound of it's long claws on the road.  We have heard it before and knew what was coming but I don't think we have ever seen three, all coming from different places but going in the same direction. Ted thought it was all very exciting, good job he was on the lead!
Wendy Bathhurst