Brown's Folly Sheep Return Home

Just a quick not to say thanks to everyone who kept an eye on the sheep this winter.  It was another successful grazing year at Brown’s Folly and we couldn't have done it without you.  

Spring is coming and the sheep have returned home to lamb.  

See you all next year!

Happy New Year Sheepwatch 2015

Happy New Year to all in 2015

and thanks to everyone who helped out last year.

The Browns Folly six are succesfully grazing throughout the winter for another year.

Barry the Ram is happy 

Ram back at Browns Folly!

A big, fit and healthy ram has returned to Brown’s Folly, but that's not Randy, that's Barry.

Randy has been retired to the fields of Devon.  Barry is just a youngster but is well behaved, and if he has done his job correctly, the five ewes and Barry will all come off in March so they can lamb at home just up the road in Farleigh Wick.

They all look very fit and well up there at the moment, and have noticeably moved off of the grass and onto the ivy and leaves, so hopefully making the right impression.

Photo by Richard Pooley

Hopefully see you on the hill this winter!

AWT x

The Brown's Folly Five!

The Brown's Folly Five are back!  All five ewes arrived safe and well last week with sheepwatch volunteers and graziers helping out.  Thanks to everyone who made it down.  Here's some pics of the day!

Photos by John Lewis

Hello Everyone and Happy Sheepwatch 2014/15!

Hope you are enjoying the last bit of summer. Its that time of year again and the sheep are returning to Brown’s Folly tomorrow Thursday 4th Sept. 

 If you fancy saying hello they will be arriving around 4pm. Poppy and the lambs are staying at home this year and its the turn of the ewes again, so there should be some familiar faces (umm possibly Daisy, Lou lou, Flower, Barry?!, Lilly...). 

There will be 5 sheep all together and Randy the Ram will also be back to join them around November time!

Sheep Gone Home...

Its the end of another grazing year at Brown's Folly and the sheep returned home to the farm on Saturday. Here are a few pics of the day...

Loading the sheep in the trailer.

It wasn't quite as smooth a day as we had hoped for.  Unfortunately one of the sheep was dead when we arrived on Saturday to get them off, possibly from a parasitic infection like worms.  The sheepdogs did a fantastic job of getting them off the tricky slopes safely and they returned home happily to the sunshine at the farm.

Home, back on the farm.

Thank you to everyone for your help this year.  Look forward to seeing you all throughout the summer, and in Autumn when we put Poppy and this years lambs back on to Brown's Folly.

Ladies and Gentlemen Meet Poppy!

Spring is finally here! Last years Ewe's that were on the slopes have given birth to 6 new lambs who will be coming to Brown's Folly in Autumn.  But one young lamb has been rejected by its mother and is being bottle fed by the farmers young daughter who has called her Poppy.  Meet Poppy, she is pretty cute...

Poppy

The sheep have only a few weeks left at Browns Folly, but they are enjoying the views and the sunshine on the slopes of the Nature Reserve.

Sheepwatch Photos

Here is some great photos throughout the last month from one of our Sheepwatchers - John Lewis.

See the sun does shine sometimes!

Brown's Folly in the early 1900's

Thought we would show you these wonderful pics of Brown's Folly Nature Reserve from the village of Bathford taken in the early 1900's.

Amazing to see the hill around the tower clear from trees, which is one of the reasons we spent last winter restoring the grassland on the famous hill top over looking Bath.

Happy New Year for 2014!

Happy New Year from everyone at Avon Wildlife Trust!  Thanks to everyone who kept an eye on the sheep over the festive period.  Whether you were strolling with the family on Boxing Day or New Years Day, or walking off those extra roast potatoes we hope you had a lovely holiday.  The sheep are grazing happily this winter and enjoying the slopes of Browns Folly Nature Reserve.

John Lewis Dec 2013

John Lewis Dec 2013

Owl Prowl @ Brown's Folly This Saturday 16th November!

Fancy a change from Sheepwatching? Why not try an Owl Prowl?!

Tawny Owl Chick - Ian Chambers

This Saturday 16 November at Brown's Folly Nature Reserve, Avon Wildlife Trust are running an Owl Prowl Event led by expert Chris Sperring.  4 - 6pm. (Rescheduled from October) 

Booking essential at events or call 0117 9177270.

Sheepwatch Success!

Its hard to believe that 8 of the 9 sheep on the slope were only born this May, as they are now as big as the Ewe that is looking after them!  But all 9 of the Brown’s Folly Wiltshire Horn sheep are happy, and eating and climbing well!

 

So a massive thanks to all the Sheepwatchers for the updates, emails and pictures.  We really need some more photos for our media work this winter so please send any you have to browsfollysheepwatch@avonwildlifetrust.org.uk

Look forward to seeing you all before Christmas hopefully, and thanks again!

Autumn Sheep Doing Well!

The sheep are still doing well at Browns Folly Nature Reserve this autumn. The lambs are getting bigger and bigger and are being well looked after on the hill. Its hard to believe how small they were back in Spring and Summer!  Here are a few pics from our Sheepwatchers.

All 9 will be on the slopes until Easter, unless the grass runs out first!

Keep sending any pics or updates to brownsfollysheepwatch@avonwildlifetrust.org.uk

And here are the first photos...

Ken Tatem

And They're Back!

There are 9 Sheep Back at Brown’s Folly Nature Reserve so dogs must be kept on leads in the grassland.  There are 8 lambs and 1 ewe who is going to show them the ropes, the lambs are fairly big and you may even recognise the ewe from last year! 

For the next few weeks please send updates to browsfollysheepwatch@avonwildlifetrust.org.uk and tell as many people as possible about the project.  Look forward to seeing you all on the slopes over the coming months!

Lambs are born!

Just to let you know all five ewes are now proud mothers of a new generation of Wiltshire Horn sheep thanks to all the hard work of our graziers and Sheepwatchers. 

They have all had, or are about to have lambs including sets of twins and even one set of triplets! 

The new generation will be bounding around Farleigh Wick for the spring and summer and we are hoping to put the lambs onto Browns Folly around August time once they are weaned off the mothers and are a bit bigger!

Thank you once again to everyone for all their hard work!

The sheeps last few weeks

The five ewes are enjoying the spring sunshine.  They have been busy basking in the sun after the felling works to improve the views and expand the wildflower grassland have finished.  All five appear to be in lamb and will be returning back home soon to give birth to their lambs.

Hungry Happy Snow Sheep!

The five remaining ewes made it through the cold snap, they were very pleased to see staff, volunteer sheepwatchers and the graziers with hay and sheep nuts for them, whilst the snow covered every inch of Browns Folly last week.  Here are a few of our favourite photos of their happy faces!