Lambs!

 

It's the end of a quiet week bird-wise. A busy week at work, a horrendous cold and attending to my new lambs have kept birding to a minimum. The only new birds for my patchwork challenge list have been Coal Tit (on the feeders) and previously overlooked Dunnock. However Reed Buntings returned to the garden on Monday and the Pink-feet were back on the marshes viewable from the house. Careful scanning failed to produce any other goose species with them but I'll keep trying.
Lambing is over for now. I lamb a few ewes early every year for lambs for showing in the summer. As if on cue the first show schedule for the Hadleigh Show in May arrived today ( a sure sign of impending spring). We've ended up with 15 lambs out of 7 ewes, a very good total and all seem to be fit and well with no signs of the Schmallenberg virus that is now hitting flocks further west and north.The weather gods smiled on us too. The dry, mild, windless conditions were perfect, unlike the forecast for this weekend, so the ewes were able to lamb outside with plenty of space to find a quiet undisturbed corner. They seem to lamb more easily that way and there's no rush to get the lambs under cover and dried off. The only downside this year is I've got 10 ram lambs and only 5 ewe lambs. I would much prefer it the other way around. There's one ewe left to lamb on 23rd January ( Mildred, star of a CBeebies Green Balloon Club special - yes, honest) so my fingers are crossed for ewe lambs.
No bird pics but here's a cutesy lamb photo of two of the new arrivals