Herdwick

I am no lover of sheep nor of sheep farming on the hills of England where they are used to kill off any saplings before they can mature into fine native trees. And the overgrazing of recent years has meant that they have been everywhere leading to intrusive notices telling us that it's lambing season and we must "Get A Grip"! And the general attitude of many (if not all) hill farmers in South Yorks and North Derbyshire is that they stick the beasts on the moors and then leave them for weeks without much in the way of pastoral care. It has been commonplace to see sick and ailing animals and also many wandering on major roads with apparently no effort being made to retrieve them.


Lowland sheep are usually another story, getting much better treatment. But if there's one sheep in the hills that I do have a soft spot for it's the Herdwick more often found in the Lake District. Currently the farmer who grazes the sheep on the pasture land of Blacka has introduced a number of Herdwick sheep and lambs amongst the more common Derbyshire blackfaced animals. The Herdwicks are amusing to watch over a period of time. The ewes are white faced with a grey coat while the lambs start very dark almost black all over; over the weeks their faces turn white starting around the eyes with white spectacles. They also have a more attractive character than the others, less likely to complain and stamp feet but still curious.

Over all a more welcome addition. If we must have sheep let's have less of them but let them be Herdwicks.

The pure white fungi pushing up through the grass at this time have always been a puzzle to me being a very poor scholar of mycological matters. Could they be the Ivory Waxcap or could they be the Ivory Clitocybe? If your mind is on breakfast much could depend on the judgement made as the former is classed as edible while the Clitocybe produces very nasty reactions sometimes fatal. My choice this morning is a poached egg.