Lambing at 'Cnoc na Grèine' Sunhill croft 2021

Admiring one of my beautiful, healthy lambs.

Lambing started a little earlier than expected this year on our croft at ‘Cnoc na Grèine’ Sunhill on the Isle of Berneray. In fact, it started 5 days earlier than expected. My son Finbar and I headed down to the machair, where our sheep had been munching all winter on the common grazing, anticipating a relatively straight forward round up and waddle home with our very pregnant flock. To our surprise little black lambs had begun to arrive so we had to retreat home to gather some back up.

Surveying the situation on the machair in my newly completed ‘Waterlands’ sweater in Birlinn Yarn – link to pattern & yarn pack: HERE

It actually needed the full team husband Andrew and both sons Hamish and Finbar (Corrie the border terrier was left at home as she is absolutely useless in these situations). Skittish mothers would dart off in opposite directions, reluctant new Mums would not budge at all but eventually with a bit of sheep psychology and the help of the land rover, which ended up with a foot well full of lambs with the anxious ewes loaded in the back, we made the short journey back to the croft.

To begin with all went well. The lambs arrived at a pretty steady pace. We kept them in close to the house so I could check them every few hours and was able to notice any changes in ewe behaviour. Most of the time, experienced ewes will find a quiet spot away from the flock to give birth so these are the ones you need to watch. However, we had a few gimmers (first time Mums) which were the ones who often prove more problematic.

I watched this young gimmer give birth to her first lamb. She got such a fright that she galloped off and left it. With the help of Andrew, we were able to bring her in and pen her where she promptly gave birth to her second twin. A little bit of tlc and it was great to see her settle into motherhood. She calmed right down and by morning she had bonded well with her twins.

One of our earlier twins was quite small and was not growing well so just to be on the safe side I would now and then bring her in to give her a supplementary bottle of milk. Isn’t she cute waiting patiently for her warm bottle of milk!!

View from our front door at Sunhill with my studio to the left.

So just when everything was going really well … it started to snow. This is quite unusual for April in the Hebrides and over the course of a week we had more snow than we had experienced all winter.

Every morning I am up at 6:30, a quick cup of tea then straight out the door. It is really essential to get out as soon as it is light. Any lambs born in snow conditions overnight might not make it to the morning if they are weak or the ewe is young and inexperienced.

It was often bitterly cold but very beautiful. The sun would rise over the Harris hills and on still mornings like this one I could stand back and take in the view across the Sound of Harris to the Cuillin mountains in Skye.

Dark photo taken last thing before I left them for the night.

The last check at night is also very important. Any lamb born as darkness is falling can be easily missed especially as they are black and again if there are any complications then in the cold conditions they might not make it. This was the case with this wee one. The weather was pretty nasty and the temptation to flop into the sofa and call it a day was very strong but something told me I needed to make one more check.

And there she was … very weak and crumpled in the corner of the field. The young ewe was trying her best but the lamb wasn’t getting to her feet and was getting colder by the minute. So I scooped her up and managed to get the pair indoors. We put the lamb in the faithful blue wash basket alongside a hot water bottle and I managed to get her to take some warm colostrum. It was great to see her on her feet a couple of hours later and feeding from Mum.

One of Keith MacDonald’s cheviot lambs at Trumisgarry farm.

Back at Sunhill croft lambing progressed well. The weather eased and we settled into a period of calm, if a little cool but at least sunny weather so all was good.

Sleepy twins …

Here is a young gimmer looking a little surprised as I have just given her lamb a yellow tag.

Carrying the last twins out into the Spring sunshine.

So our lambing finished with these lovely twin female lambs. As the ewe was elderly and needed a bit of tlc they spent the first couple of days indoors but here I am taking them out to the nursing pen.

In all this years lambing has gone well. I can’t completely relax as you always have to stay vigilant but at least now the pressure is off.

To those of you who continue to purchase my yarn, this is where it all starts … with cold, early morning lambing.

I will leave you now with something that brings me great joy. To watch my flock of wee lambs galloping and frolicking across the croft.