Friday 31 October

20 Shetland and 20 WF all ( conveniently) found together at the bottom of the slope. No apparent problems, plenty of food in bucket and water in trough.

No walkers or dogs

Tuesday 28th October

4 white faced at the top of the slope, 11 in the valley on the Eastern side, 5 at the bottom of the down.  1 Shetland on the top of the hill and one down in the valley, Remaining 18 Shetland near the trough. So that is all 40 accounted for. 

No sign of injury or illness to any of the sheep although  a few can't be bothered to stand up when I come around.

Both troughs  and fences ok. 

Individual Shetlands are spending time by the northern gate between Eastern and Central, the self closer isn't great, worth having a look at or adding please close the gate signs. The more southerly gate between East and central has the dogs on lead sign on the wrong side. Otherwise all good, no walkers or dogs. 

I will be here on the 4th but cataract operation on 5th so I am unsure about the rest of the month, have been told I cannot cycle as must keep my head up, (cue Val Doonigan song), not sure what that means for climbing up and down precipitous slopes so we'll have to see (or not see).

Monday 27th October

 Found all 40 sheep :-

- 36 (20 Shetlands and 16 WFW) either in the sun near the central compartment fence or on slopes/in bushes nearby (all looked healthy although one WFW had some bramble in its coat).

- 4 WFW very high up in SE corner of Eastern Compartment close to Eastern fence. I don't think I would have spotted these had I not taken the path along the eastern edge to check the eastern fence for trees down. Couldn't get near enough to see them properly but they looked to be moving okay.

All fences and gates sound.

Water troughs full, red sheep nuts bucket nowhere to be seen, has it been removed ?

No dogs or walkers seen although I was about 45 mins earlier than usual (due to the time change) (0845 instead of 0930 ish).

Sunday 26th October

 I found 20 of the white-faced sheep, many of them in the shrubs at the bottom of the downs, so that was good news after only finding 18 yesterday. I then counted 18 black faced sheep. As I was about to leave a black faced sheep popped out from the undergrowth which gave me 19. I then set off up the down to look for the missing sheep and while almost at the top I was met by a lone black faced sheep which I corralled down to the bottom with the rest of the flock. 

I found that it is probably easier to count the sheep without the sheep nuts as they basically ignore me and I can wander around them while they are grazing rather than milling about trying to find any uneaten sheep nuts. I guess the only problem would be if they weren’t all conveniently in one place as me calling them seems to have little or no effect !!

I cleared some more paths on the path down at the far end of the western compartment and some along the bottom path towards the eastern compartment.

Please tell Andy I have a flu jab appointment and a hygienist appointment this Tuesday so won’t be able to make the working party.

Pippa    pp Adrian Crossley

Saturday 25th October

 I spent a bit of time counting the sheep today and found 20 Black faced sheep but could only find 18 white faced sheep. I will check again tomorrow as I suspect they may be hiding in the thicker undergrowth at the top of the compartment. There was no sign of the sheep nuts. I looked next to the water trough and by both of the bottom gates. The water troughs are full.

I spent some time clearing the hanging brambles from the main path and other overhanging branches also at the top of the far end of the western compartment (the path that leads to plum pudding. I cleared some of the low lying brambles and hawthorn / blackthorn from the paths in the eastern compartment (while looking for sheep).

Pippa   pp Adrian Crossley

Friday 24th October

 I'm sorry to cause you worry & extra work. I've since discovered the report was made by a villager who saw the sheep on the Western side of the Whiteshoot bridleway thinking they were the HIWWT sheep! I received the report second hand - so there must have been a miscommunication. P.S. the sheep was dead.

Pippa Evans

staff check, no dead sheep Thursday 23rd Oct

Checked on report of dead sheep in Eastern compartment, no body was found. 20 shetlands easily located,  the 20 woodlands took a bit more time. I really value your time as lookers, but if you think you have found a dead sheep please actually approach it and confirm its dead. 

Tuesday 21st October

All 20 Shetland 20 white face found ended up against the North fence East compartment. All looked healthy to me although I had to remove ramble from a couple of them.

The new wicket gate between Central and East at the bottom of the slope doesn't close on its own 

No walkers or dogs. Water is fine sheep nuts I'm missing

I agree it is very slippery on the chalk I have taken to using a hiking pole with a metal tip and that seems to help (famous last words)

Monday 20th October

Found all 40 Sheep, 35 out towards the Northern fence and 5 in the undergrowth.

All fences are fine, but the signs on the gates between the Eastern and Central compartments have the notice about Livestock on the wrong side.

I did come across a dog running loose in the Central compartment with no owner in sight.

It ran off to the Western Compartment.

Water toughs are full, but no sign of the red bucket with sheep nuts (not that I would have used them).

NOTE: The bare chalk was very slippery today, I was taking care but still slipped over near the bottom of the Clarendon Way !!  Luckily no harm done.

Sunday 19th October

 Saturday afternoon we managed a full headcount of sheep, all looking well. Water trough full of water and gates and fences all good. One thing to note, the signs on the gates alerting people where the sheep are have not been changed to the eastern section, they are still showing the sheep to be in the central section - and you need a Phillips screwdriver to change them!

Today we were up there this morning, sheep are sheltering from the rain under the trees and in the scrub. We managed to count 34 but although we could hear sheep deep in the scrub it was impossible to get a clear view of the remaining 6 and impenetrable to get closer. I hope that they were all just contentedly munching..

Pippa     pp. David & Gaynor Simpson

Tuesday - 14th October (Staff Update)

All 40 sheep now moved into the Eastern Compartment and the gate has been re-hung, so they should be contained and easier to find. 

Photo of our volunteer Mary being followed by her flock during the move. 

Monday 13th October

 Only found 36 sheep (19 WFW and 17 Shetlands), other 4 must be in the undergrowth somewhere as the fences and gates are all fine.

The 19 WFW and 6 Shetlands were in the area around the sheep nuts, 7 Shetlands were on the downs just above this area and 4 Shetlands were in  the bushes just to the west of the sheep nuts area.

All water troughs full, sheep nuts about 1/3 full.

No dogs or walkers seen in Eastern or Central Compartments, 2 walkers with seen with dog off lead on the Nature reserve but outside the compartments.

Sunday 12th October

 We went up on Saturday and today and all gates / fences as they should be. All 4 water troughs were good and full. It was difficult to count the sheep such a big area and they were really spread out and not all came when you called and rattled the tin - we think we were 3 short Saturday and 2 too many today !! When we walked we can’t see any in harm or struggling. We didn’t come across any dog walkers.

Pippa          pp Tim & Emma Powell 

Friday 10th October

 All 20 WF were next to the feed bucket along with 3 Shetlands , the remaining 17 Shetlands were grazing on the lower section of the hill in the central compartment.

Feed bucket third to quarter full , plenty of water in troughs. No walkers or dogs, all gates are secure.

Monday 6th October

 Found all 40 Sheep in Central Compartment :-

20 WFW and 1 Shetland in area around Sheep nuts, other 19 Shetlands in the bushes on the North West side.

All gates checked and none faulty, no trees spotted down on fences after windy weather Friday/Saturday.

Sheep Nuts 1/3 full, water troughs all full.

No dogs or walkers seen.

Saturday 4th October

All the sheep are on the down. They all look fine. The Whitefaced Woodlands looked particularly white and fluffy, as if they have just jumped out of the washing machine. The black faced sheep less so. The water trough was full and the gates closed.

Pippa pp.   Dom & Rebecca McKay