A nearby smallholder came to view the lambs yesterday. she picked out her favourites. We tagged them just now. An ear tag with each lambs unique number and an ear tag with our unique smallholding number.

The vet was here and discovered fly strike on the lamb who had lost the wool. She treated it and then we brought in all the flock which she examined. The other 14 lambs are clear but we took the opportunity to spray all the sheep and lambs with Crovect. This protects against fly strike through the hot summer months.

I’ve just walked into the kitchen where I found this.

Am I living in a mad house? Probably but that’s fine with me

I carried her into the barn and Jeremy cut the ragged wool away. There was no bleeding but he sprayed the skin to prevent any infection. We don’t know how it happened and she seemed alright. I carried her back to the flock and we checked her during the evening. She was with her mother and a sibling when we last saw her.

1.5 kg blackcurrants, 1.0 kg sugar, half a lemon and 8 sterilised jars. Done!

I put up this picture on my status this morning asking for help to identify this beetle.

Here’s the reply from R…

It’s the larvae of a Harlequin Ladybird. An invasive species that is destroying our native ladybirds BUT… it is also useful in controlling aphids. Heads you win, tails you lose!

I don’t know how it got through but there it was wandering around the perimeter of the field on the wrong side of the post and rail fence

The rose below is a Fairy rose developed by Ann Bentall