There are an estimated 22 million sheep on the island of Britain and I have seen most of them. My relationship with sheep is, how shall I say it, interesting. They often stare at me as I ramble by. Sometimes they run away from me as if I was a no-good sheep rustler but at other times they rush towards me as if I was Jesus tending his flock. My relationship with sheep is, I swear, wholly platonic.
Being under the age of seventy, and with a pleasant afternoon promised, I climbed upon Clint's Moroccan leather saddle and galloped off into the Derbyshire hills for a pleasant circular walk around the disused Eldon Hill Quarry beyond Castleton.
As per usual many pairs of ovine eyes observed my progress. They looked up from their perpetual grazing. Their lambs will be arriving very soon but on this mid-March promenade I did not see a single newborn.
When you are a sheep you are very hardy. Your life is simple and straightforward. You are sociable and you have no real sense of the past or the future. You live in the moment and you are fearful of the unknown - such as foxes or raptors or human beings who ramble by singing songs by The Doors:
This is the end, beautiful friend
This is the end, my only friend
The end
I find it interesting that you had to make a point of saying that your relationship with sheep was wholly platonic. Hmmmm.
ReplyDeleteThose sheep hide their pregnancies well, you can even tell:)
Yes - platonic Lily. I am not Welsh.
DeleteCan't even tell. Note to self-proofread!
ReplyDeleteYou are forgiven
DeleteThe timing of that last shot - excellent! I've been trying to get out walking most days now as well to build up my lungs and heart as much as possible. There are noticeably fewer people out and about on the streets and trails.
ReplyDeleteI am seeing changes here too. This morning I visited my favourite discount supermarket. Normally there are ten or twelve shoppers on a Monday morning. Today there were a hundred! Crazy!
DeleteYour first photo shows a sheep having a very good look at you. I think most of the time sheep are very trusting so they let a guy like you go by.
ReplyDeleteI'm like The Sheep Whisperer. I wonder how they would react to The Micro Manager.
DeleteHa ha!
DeleteWhat a sheepish post!
ReplyDeleteYou did well in going for a walk on such a beautiful day.
It was wonderful sunny and rather warm here yesterday, but I was working from home as I mostly do on Mondays, and stuck in telephone conferences for the best part of the afternoon.
By the way, it was the same here at the supermarket when I went to get some fruit and veg; usually, not all that many shoppers are about on a Monday morning, but yesterday was different.
If I am chosen by The Virus, it's been nice knowing you Meike and thanks again for the calendars!
DeleteIn your second picture that one sheep is looking back at you lovingly! Aww! They all love you and don't forget the cows - they love you too!
ReplyDeleteYour pictures are very good. I'm glad you are still able to get out and walk.
I am like Dr Dolittle when it comes to farm animals:-
DeleteIf we could talk to the animals, learn their languages
Think of all the things we could discuss
If we could walk with the animals, talk with the animals,
Grunt and squeak and squawk with the animals,
And they could squeak and squawk and speak and talk to us.
"I remember ewe" was an hit in the sixties. I think the lady in the top photo is called Baah-bara.
ReplyDeleteHa-ha! You should do stand-up my friend!
DeleteAnd they all produce wool for me to knit for which I thank them But, poor creatures, they are used like lawnmowers to keep the grass down, it must be sooooooo boring but then Yorkshire Pud coes into view and a tingle of excitement runs through the flock.
ReplyDeleteAs if they have spotted a wolf perhaps. A wolf in sheep's clothing.
DeleteI'm sure you are a no-good sheep rustler. Beware. They don't have herd immunity. Only cattle.
ReplyDeleteThey've got flock immunity.
DeleteThey sound like swear words.
DeleteNot sure I believe your protestation about purely a platonic relationship but anyway,as a local sheep farmer here used to say, "Always pick a pretty one"
ReplyDeleteI have heard it said that it's useful to wear wellies to pop their hind feet in and you don't need to buy them flowers.
DeleteI like Sheep. They always look at you in a 'knowing' kind of way. I'm sure they feel superior to us!
ReplyDeleteWhen the coronavirus has got us all, they will be taking over the planet.
DeleteThat last shot, especially, is a knock-out.
ReplyDeleteThanks and thank heavens for the zoom facility on my camera!
DeleteLove all the sheepish king/queen-of-the-hill shots. Keeping the proper distance, too. Good sheep.
ReplyDeleteCo-incidentally, the sheep who looked over her shoulder at me was called Mary! Would you believe it?
DeleteBaaaaaa! :)
DeleteLooks like a safe enough place to go for a walk just now - well, at least if the sheep are not in a rushing-towards-you mood...
ReplyDeleteIt must be nice to be a sheep - totally oblivious of Brexit or the coronavirus. Just munching grass and saying "Baaaa!" every few minutes. I could do that.
DeleteJim Morrison never knew what he was talking about. I imagine it's pretty nice to get out for a ramble among sheep right about now. I wish I could do it! (Platonically.)
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I could not have undertaken the walk without my Ordnance Survey map.
DeleteThere were lots of little baby woolly jumpers in the field next to the Tibshelf trail today. Gorgeous little wobbly things. They were all numbered to match the number on their mums. There's such joy to be had in watching baby lambs, especially when they go gambolling.
ReplyDeleteI know Tibshelf Jean! Why don't mums and babies in maternity wards get matching numbers sprayed on them?
DeleteThat's quite a weather front that moved in on your ramble!
ReplyDelete