Back at Stonehenge, we saw a little sign on a meadow about pregnant sheep getting stuck on their backs. Apparently it happens quite frequently that pregnant sheep try to scratch their back, fall over and can’t get back up again. It was a cute flier with a big, fat, pregnant sheep lying on its back, legs waving in the air. Walkers were asked to help these sheep roll over again or to call the nearest vet.
Fast forward a few weeks and we’re walking through a meadow near Inverness, loving the countryside and taking pictures of our future house (it’s gorgeous!) when we suddenly came across this sight:
Of course, first thought was ‘Oh no, it’s dead!’ followed by ‘Damn, it’s BIG’. On slightly closer inspection we saw that it was breathing though so now what? Let’s try getting a little closer.
Hmm, sheep appears to have two heads.
A different angle revealed that it was actually the ewe’s lamb, either guarding her mother or trying to smother her. We had a short argument about that one… Strangely enough, neither the lamb nor the mother seemed to be paying any attention to us. Even when we started shouting at them (to try and wake them) and shot our camera flash a few times, no reaction. Either these two were in a coma or they were so scared of us that they decided to play dead. That’s when the penny dropped – the poor ewe couldn’t get back up and was probably exhausted from trying! We had to push her over. (‘We’ being the royal we of course and meaning Conor.) Sheepman to the rescue!
As soon as he touched the ewe, the lamb woke out of its trance, took one look at Conor and bolted. That in turn woke up mama sheep and she looked just as terrified but obviously, she couldn’t run anywhere until he gave her a gentle nudge (okay, it was a pretty strong push because she was HEAVY).
As soon as she could get her four legs on the ground again, she barrelled off to a save distance and then proceeded to take the longest pee of her live.
Not a single bah of thanks but I’m sure she was just lost for words in all her gratitude.