Feeding the rams at dusk
Snuffling
Silhouettes
The musk of Rams
Autumn
Damp air
Calm
Evening mist
The cows often stand in this position, the wind in their hair.
Animals get spiritual replenishment from being in the hills just as much as you or I do.
Yesterday I gathered most of the sheep, these are a few which I had missed. With the help of my dog we slowly walk them back to the fields.
A hundred years ago my grandfather would have been gathering the sheep, a different breed, a smaller man, same month, same place, same task.
A thousand years ago a monk would have been gathering the sheep, he may have been an ancestor, a life of substance, same month, same place, same task.
On my first shepherds job I was given a bag, it had the tools of my trade in it for lambing a hill flock. String, lambing oil, a bottle of milk, and a flask of tea and some sandwiches. It would also hold a sickly or cold lamb that need to come home and a few biscuits for the dog.
So when we decided to make some tweed out of Herdwick wool I thought let’s make some shepherds bags, they now hold a lap top or the ingredients for the evening meal but they have sold all over the world.
Sheep dogs like Tag are an integral part of upland sheep farming, the bond between the shepherds and their dogs has been there for at least a thousand years.
He is my work colleague, right hand man, friend and counsellor, we occasionally disagree on the way forward but I could not run the farm without him.
All photos on this page are © John Atkinson
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