It's a case of looking for new year birds at the moment, staying in Norfolk anyway. We've had a spell of very high winds and rain neither of which is conducive to birding, especially the wind.
A short visit to Buckenham marsh was enjoyable. The Wigeon are in their finest breeding plumage.
Very careful scoping found up to ten Ruff crouched low amongst the Lapwing, themselves scarcely visible above the grass and sedge.Their leap into the air exposed a good flock of Golden Plover. Where were they hiding !
On the way home, a sheep field north of Stalham held the first sheep and their lambs of the year. The breed of sheep was new to me. I didn't get a good photograph as passing traffic and a thorny hedge made it difficult.
Looking them up, I found two possibilities:
Balwen Welsh Mountain
Appearance: Balwen is the Welsh word for ‘white blaze’. These sheep are usually black, brown or dark grey in appearance with a white stripe from the top of the head to the nose, a white tail and four white socks. Males are typically horned.
History: The Balwen Welsh Mountain was first established in the UK in the 19th century by a group of enthusiastic breeders. A breed society was formed in 1985 following an increase in numbers after the breed was almost wiped out by the harsh winter of 1946-47. Only one ram survived at that time, taking the breed to near-extinction.
Geography: The breed originated in the Tywi Valley in Central Wales, with interest growing outside the valley from the 1970s. It is recognised as a rare breed by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.
Breed attributes: Balwen’s are a maternal hill breed, so the females are small and very hardy with a strong mothering ability. This allows them to rear lambs in difficult environments.
Commercial desirability: The Balwen Welsh Mountain Sheep Society promotes the breed as having few health problems and requiring minimum supplementary feeding at peak times of the year.
Zwartbles sheep are from an area of Holland called Friesland their main use was for milk and cheese production. Dutch dairying practice changed so much in the last century causing their numbers to nearly disappear. By the mid 1970's they were entered into the Dutch Rare Breed Survival Trust. In 1985 a Flock Book was formed, and numbers have steadily increased. Zwartbles Sheep were introduced into Britain from Holland in the 1980's then came over to Northern Ireland in 2000; but were not introduced into Southern Ireland until 2005 with the first lambs born in spring of 2006. In 1995, a Zwartbles Sheep Association was formed in Great Britain and Irish breeders were granted membership numbers in 2007. The South of Ireland Zwartbles Sheep Club was formed in 2010.
The Zwartbles name means Black with a White Blaze. A very noble yet elegant black sheep with a distinctive white blaze from poll to surround the muzzle, two to four white socks up to but not beyond the knees or hocks and undocked tails with a white tip. Like a short horn cow these sheep serve the dual purpose for meat and milk but have the addtion of a very fine thick fleece with plenty of crimp
Considering that Norfolk has historic connections with the Netherlands, maybe they are the latter.......I can't make up my mind - and I don't know the farmer. They're also bigger than the mountain sheep usually are.
Sunday March 10
A pager message re an Iceland Gull at Walcott sent us on our way. It's only a couple of miles from home. Gale force winds made standing difficult, especially as the bird was missing. Steve and Dot were still parked up and had seen the bird fly away. Unfortunately, none of us re-found it.
We had another look this afternoon, finding a Mediterranean Gull amongst the flock loafing in a field near the Ridlington turn-off. The tide was well in, precluding any beach birds.
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