I have just returned from my incredible journey to the remote Orkney island of North Ronaldsay, renowned for its seaweed eating sheep, the tallest land based light house in the British Isles (109ft) and its 13 mile drystone dyke built in 1832 to keep the sheep off of agricultural land. In order to reach such an isolated location I had to take a train, a plane, two coach journeys, a ferry crossing and an eight seater plane as well as numerous taxis! During my time there I stayed in Holland House with the descendants of the Traill family who originally purchased the island in 1727 and I was given the opportunity to explore as much of the island as possible, as well as being able to take part in the ancient island tradition of punding.
Having talked with some of the locals I discovered that no one knows exactly when the sheep arrived on the island, however it is believed that they have been there well over 5000 years and so remain a prominent feature of island life. The stonewall dyke that I previously mentioned has been crucial to the survival of the species, elsewhere in the Orkneys their disappearance has occurred as a result of crossbreeding with larger breeds in order to increase body size and wool yield, however the dykes appear to have protected this ancient breed from such modifications.
There are approximately 3000 sheep on the island, identifiable by ear tags however the farmers allow their sheep to flock communally outside the dykes. The punding is carried out yearly and is always at high tide; making the strip of beach as small as possible to minimise escapees. I gathered on the shore with the islanders and the sheep were rounded up in several sites along the coastline using lengths of wire fencing to herd them into the specially built punds also constructed of drystone and attached to the dykes.
The sheep were separated by the farmers so that they could examine and sheer their individual sheep.
The sheep were shorn with traditional hand blades unlike the machine shears used by modern day farmers; the sand and nettles trapped in the wool would make it almost impossible to use machine shearing, additionally hand blades leave a thicker layer of wool and therefore a thicker layer of lanolin, secreted by sebaceous glands to protect the sheep from the harsh coastal environment. Below is a photograph of me shearing my first sheep using the accustomed hand blades.
During my time in North Ronaldsay I was also lucky enough to come into very close contact with the grey and common seals found in that area, along with the abundance of other wildlife on the island such as cows, alpaca, rabbits, hedgehogs and numerous species of birds; I was almost spat at by a nesting fulmar and was dive-bombed by several nesting arctic turns.
Overall my trip was amazing, I learned and gained so much from the experience. I feel so lucky to have been given the unique opportunity of observing the wildlife up close; allowing me to obtain an unequaled appreciation of such an unusual habitat and to gain an insight into the history of the island itself.
As I previously mentioned I will be gaining work experience at a dairy farm next week which I will blog about as soon as possible.
Amy
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