In May 2011, after four years of life on McNutt's Island, we moved to Montreal. This blog remains, though, as a (sort of) daily record of our time on the island, and a winding path for anyone who would like to meander about among its magical places. For additional perspectives and insights I recommend Greg's book, Island Year: Finding Nova Scotia (2010), and my Bowl of Light (2012). I'll continue to post once in a while. If you do want to read this blog, one option would be to begin at the beginning of it (which is, as we all know, in blog-world, at the end), and read forward, concluding with the most recent entry. It's a journal, really, so it does makes more sense if you read it that way. But, you know, read it any way you like.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Sheep behaving oddly

For the past couple of days we have observed two sheep wandering about without the rest of the flock. This is unusual behaviour.  This morning one of them is resting alone beside the lower road. The other is standing about fifty metres away.  When sheep are about to give birth they spend more time lying down, and they separate themselves from the rest of the flock.  So we may be about to have an early lamb or two. I don't know why the two sheep are together. Maybe they are mother and daughter. 

Last year we first heard lambs bleating in early April. The sounds came from the woods between the road and Indian Point. On April 11th the mother and her two lambs appeared in the yard. They were born six or seven weeks before the rest of the lambs. And they survived and did quite well. We could distinguish them until the others caught up to their weight and size, late in the summer. 

Since there are three or four flocks throughout the island I imagine this same thing has happened in the other flocks too. The rams were taken off the island at the end of October last year, but not before they managed to impregnant a few ewes for a second time in their happy sojourn here. What fond memories they must have. 

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