Yorkshire Dales sheep shearing

click photo to enlarge
Walking on the hills above Settle, North Yorkshire, the other week I heard the sound of many sheep from behind a drystone wall. Easing myself up so I could look over the top I saw a large flock of sheep enclosed in the corner of the field. Some were comfortably rotund, sporting fine fleeces and others were scrawny looking, having just had the ovine equivalent of a "short back and sides". Yes, it was sheep shearing time in the Dales.

Today's photograph shows the sheep milling about, the animals yet to be de-fleeced looking quite different from their shorn compatriots. There was a time, prior to the last foot and mouth disease outbreak, when such a scene would have consisted solely of the Swaledale breed. There are some of these present - quite a lot in fact -  with their black faces and white muzzles. However, anyone walking over the Craven uplands today can't help but notice other breeds that have crept in since the last mass cull, and some of these "off cumd uns", to use the Yorkshire expression for interlopers, are also evident.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Camera: Nikon D5300
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 34mm (51mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f8
Shutter Speed: 1/200 sec
ISO:100
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Swaledales and fashion

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Striding out on the limestone grasslands of the Craven uplands of North Yorkshire I was starting to feel sorry for the sheep. For the Swaledales in particular, the breed that is the mainstay of the local farms. A very dry spell of weather meant that the grass wasn't growing as lushly as it should have been in late May, and the animals were having to be fed supplements brought to them by shepherds on quad bikes. The temperature was unseasonally cold too, with a northerly wind causing me to don a jacket. The lambs looked to be faring quite well, their mothers' milk and what food there was stimulating the thick, curly fleece that offers very effective insulation against the bad weather. No, it wasn't the youngsters that I was concerned about, it was the ewes. Quite a number of them had fleeces that were dropping off their backs, hanging down in rags, the missing pieces blowing about among the nardus grass or caught on the drystone walls and barbed wire. Sheep shearing in the Dales usually starts at the end of May. Had it been postponed due to the weather, I wondered, or was there some other reason for the dishevelled look of the local inhabitants?

Then it struck me. Perhaps this wasn't a case of shearing delayed, but was a matter of sartorial choice on the part of the Swaledales. Could it be that a quirk of the evolutionary process was causing them to follow the precedents of some of the higher life forms who pass their way; in particular the fashionably dressed youngsters on outdoor pursuits courses, or those dragged on to the hills by enthusiastic parents (my children know that of which I speak). The sheep must have seen the ripped jeans, stonewashed shirts, artificially distressed jumpers and artfully revealed midriffs, and thought, "At last, the humans have a fashion that we can copy!" Either that or they're taking the rip and having a good laugh at our expense. What do you think?

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 83mm (166mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/250
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Upland sheep

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The Fens of Lincolnshire used to be a land of sheep, but no longer. Today vegetables are much more profitable. However, sheep are still to be found in small numbers, and in larger numbers when they are brought in from more distant pastures to eat the left-overs when fields of cauliflowers and other brassicas have been harvested. Recently as I've travelled around, the breeds I've seen include Lincoln Longwool, Blue-faced Leicester, Blackface, and what appear to be Hebridean (though they may be black Soay sheep). These are in small resident herds, and are nothing like the sheep I've been used to for much of my life.

When I lived in the Yorkshire Dales the Swaledale (pronounced "Swaddle" locally) was ubiquitous. However, I also saw Dalesbred, Lonks, Rough Fell, Masham, and various other breeds. If I went to the Lake District it was the Herdwicks that I noticed roaming the fell sides. However, the foot and mouth disease outbreak of 2001 wiped out many herds in the North of England, and today some farmers are trying different breeds. As a child I was used to seeing Swaledale sheep in the Craven hills around Settle in North Yorkshire. But, in recent years, though this breed is still common, I've come across quite a lot of what appear to be North of England Mules. This breed is a cross between the Blue-faced Leicester and either the Swaledale or the Northumberland-type Blackface.

As I strode over the limestone hills near Attermire a while ago it was this breed that I came upon. The Swaledales coped with the fescues and nardus grasses, the high rainfall and bleak winters of the Pennines, and presumably there's enough of their hardiness in this cross-bred variety to do so too. A shaft of sunlight illuminated this group on the hillside, so I split the frame in half diagonally with the top of the slope, and selected a group that straggled along this line.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 118mm (236mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/320
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.7 EV
Image Stabilisation: On