Friday 29 September 2023

Located 27 sheep in lower part of compartment and they appeared to be fine, there appeared to be others hiding / sleeping in bushes / thickets but they were not interested in moving!

No walkers or dogs.

Feed bucket is running a little low but water trough is full.

Thursday 27 September

 Only managed to locate 20 sheep in the dusk drizzle before light failed me.

Wednesday 27th September

All 38 sheep accounted for and seemingly in good health. Trough in working order. Plenty of nuts. No walkers or dogs.

Tue 26 sep

Like yesterday's report it took ages to find them all, twice as some had moved in the interim, but all 38 found, all standing, and I didn't see any sign of fly strike despite looking at their bums carefully (hope nobody was watching!). Water, food and lower gates fine. No walkers.

Monday 25th September

 After lots of searching all 38 sheep found, 10 were deep in the thicket (not far from the water trough) so I couldn't check them health wise but the other 24 all appeared to be healthy.

Water trough working okay and still plenty of sheep nuts.

I spotted one person with a camera (also a looker) and 6 (including Bea) from HIWWT, 

one of them had a dog so I let them know that the sheep were out in the compartment, although

their dogs just lay down near them 😊 !!

Sunday 24 September

 The sheep were present & correct. All 38 were in the lower slopes so much easier to check over & count, with the family's assistance. No walkers spotted within the enclosure. Nuts & water well stocked.

Friday 22nd September

Friday failure! Found 24 easily and eventually another12 in the thicket (who were not interested in the nuts) - the other 2 I think were in denser thicket but kept their heads down despite my walking the whole area. Gates and water trough OK. No walkers but met 2 Trust fencing contractors (sorry Bea!) Hope for better luck next time.  Tim Evans

Thursday 21 September

 Misty wet slopes. 16 came to food shake, most of the WFW's just shrugged from the top of the slopes. I went to them & got to up to 36/37, who all looked fine. Took a while but couldn't spend longer as I'll be late for work,

Tue 19 sep

All sheep found, no sign of fly strike to my untutored eye but 00019 looks a slightly unusual shape on right side, I'll attach photo. Otherwise water, gates etc all fine and no walkers or dogs

Monday 18th September

Covering fir Franklyn today

All 38 spread out across the slops so I was able to wonder around each of them for a good inspection. One white faced woodland, although very few flies, looked to be annoyed by them flying around so I did notify the grazing team on this incase it might escalate.

Sunday 17th September

All 38 sheep accounted for, all seem in good condition with no obvious signs of flystrike. We've moved the nuts to the tree by the trough in the central compartment. The trough level was fine too. No other dog walkers out and about when we were there.

We also spotted this mysterious plant! A triffid?     Pippa  pp. Mike & Lindsey Moore

 

grazing update!

All 38 sheep are now in the central compartment, I moved all the gate signs around but in doing so forgot to move the nut bucket back to the central trough, sorry!

On the plus side the bucket does now have more nuts in and can be used, if someone is happy to move the bucket back over if not I'll be back on site most likely Tuesday.

Thanks all,

Bea

Friday 15th September

23 sheep found in Eastern Compartment this morning - all fine but feed bucket empty. Water trough full.

No sheep located in central compartment despite 30 mins spend searching ,however I bumped into Bea when leaving the Down and advised her, she has since texted me to report that she found 14 sheep in the central compartment hiding near the Hampshire Gate and all were fine which is a relief!

No walkers or dogs.

Thursday 14 September

 Counted 17 sheep in East enclosure with 4 the other (central enclosure) side of the fence by gate 8. The signs on the gate East side are down. Headed to the central trough to call next flock but the food tub wasn't in the tree. I guess they're also using the Eastern sheep nuts too. Headed along the bottom path, thankfully with a friend, when we spotted a sheep with both front hooves wedged in a tree. As we were unable to free it we called Bea who contacted the duty officer, then my friends husband, who heroically joined us in record time & hand sawed the tree to release the sheep. Unfortunately the poor sheep was unable to load bear on its front legs, so we waited with the grounded sheep until further assistance from HWT arrived. I hope the sheep was humanely killed asap to lessen its already considerable suffering. Harrowing all round. Not the usual genteel stroll thanks to this freak accident. 

My advice to fellow Lookers is to ensure they always have contact numbers for the HWT to hand. This emergency situation meant I failed to check numbers in the central compartment but there's obviously still movement between East & Central.

Wednesday 13th September

All sheep accounted for in both compartments and seemingly in good health. The trough in the eastern compartment worked without issue, but the one in the central compartment would not produce water. It was close to full though, so should be fine for now.

No damage to the fences, although a couple of the gates in the central compartment could do with some work. The one up by the plum pudding doesn't close on its own (1st & 2nd pics below), and the gate to the left of that behind the bench can be opened without using the mechanism. The bar just slips past the lock (3rd pic below). I can't imagine these are a massive problem though, the second gate opens into the compartment, so it's not like the sheep could push it.

Nuts are beginning to run low, could do with refilling soon. No walkers or dogs.

Tuesday 12th

Short report: all sheep found, appeared healthy with no limping, both Water troughs full, no dogs or walkers, gates fine. 

But they took some finding again today! 5 lazing under the eastern part of the copse, looking non-chalant, like a sixth form common room, they could have been hiding their half smoked roll ups as I walked in. 17 came when I called, and the final two easterners stayed at the top of the main copse until I had climbed inside; once found they of course followed me out.

In central, 4 were out and about but I couldn't find the rest anywhere. When I got to the very top of the hill I saw one appear where I had checked earlier at the bottom. Eventually found all 11 deep in the undergrowth. And of course they too followed me out. 

Monday 11th Sept

All 24 (eventually) found in Eastern compartment in valley bordering Central, and under the nearby yews. 

All 15 (eventually) found in Central compartment in scrub just above the kissing gate into the western part.

Both troughs full and working fine when the float was depressed. 

Tom

Sunday 10th September

15 sheep in the Central compartment & 19 in the Eastern compartment all in good shape. The 5 elusive ones must have been deep in the shade. Eastern trough OK. No dog walkers. Pippa Evans pp. David & Vicki Reynolds 

Friday 8th September

 Sheep all OK in Central & Eastern compartments. Both water troughs near full. All gates OK. No walkers Tim Evans

Thursday 7th sept

Temporary fix made on central compartment fence.

Thank you fir finding this and letting me know!

All 15 still in this compartment and 24 fine in east

Wednesday 6th September

All sheep accounted for in both sites. One in the East site was reluctant to leave the copse but in this heat I don't blame them.

In the central site one of the fence posts had fallen down on the Western side, behind the trees near the plumb pudding. I have included images below.

Water troughs have already been covered today, but there was still a trickle from the Eastern one when I checked. Bea arrived to refill them as I was leaving though.

No other matters of concern. There was one other walker entering the Eastern site as I was leaving but no dogs.

another water update

A small trickle of water coming out but I managed to get 35ish litres of water to each trough to top them up and this will keep the sheep going now.

water update!!

I double checked the water this afternoon and both troughs are still not filling correctly 

There is enough water fir the sheep to least them a little while so I'll be back down tomorrow to barrow some water containers 

I've also scribbled a bit of chalk just above the current water line to monitor how fast the level is going down. 

If people can take a photo of this on their rounds I'd appreciate it. Looks like the water pressure from the mains has greatly reduced and its just not reaching the troughs.

Thanks all

Bea

Tuesday 5th sep

15 in central, all together and all walking ok. 24 in eastern compartment, dotted around, I had to go looking in the copse for the last one. Both Water troughs have been cleaned but only half full with no water supply, although the supply to the eastern one restarted while I was there, worth keeping an eye on. No dogs or people.

Monday 4 September

 All sheep present and looking healthy across the 2 Compartments as expected :-

15 Central (all WFW)

24 Eastern (mix but includes all Shetlands)

There wasn't a problem with flies with any but it was early (9.45 am ish) .

Sunday 3 September

We counted the sheep yesterday (Sat 2^nd Sept) in both compartments and all present and correct.  

One (in the Eastern compartment) looked like it was being bothered by flies (see picture). We didn’t spot any lame ones.

 

Troughs and gates all good.

Mary and Jim Hagger

Friday 1 September

24 sheep found in Eastern Compartment and 15 in Central Compartment this morning. No problems noted, plenty of feed in bucket and water in trough.

No dogs or walkers