The future of the rare, seaweed-eating sheep that have thrived on the tiny island of North Ronaldsay, the most northerly on Orkney’s archipelago, since Neolithic times looks to be secure thanks to a charity formed a year ago.
The Orkney Sheep Foundation (OSF) aims to protect the North Ronaldsay breed, which is famed for living exclusively on the seashore, except in the lambing season, when the ewes are brought inland.
The animals’ digestion is so accustomed to a diet of kelp that they need to be kept on the shore by a 13-mile dry-stone wall (sheep dyke) built in 1832 that encircles the island, otherwise they risk getting copper poisoning from eating too much grass inland or cross-breeding.
The OSF is currently raising funds to repair three miles of the sheepdyke that have been severely damaged by ferocious storms. To donate, visit www.theorkneysheepfoundation.org.uk
-
‘It had the air of an ex-rental, and that’s putting it politely’: How an antique dealer transformed a run-down Georgian house in Chatham DockyardsAn antique dealer with an eye for colour has rescued an 18th-century house from years of neglect with the help of the team at Mylands.
-
A home cinema, tasteful interiors and 65 acres of private parkland hidden in an unassuming lodge in KentNorth Lodge near Tonbridge may seem relatively simple, but there is a lot more than what meets the eye.
