Wet woollies

Not an inspiring day for photography or anything else. I trudged through the mist and gloom for an hour or so in mid afternoon just to get out of the house for a while. This small flock of sheep is kept more for sentimental rather than commercial reasons and  they demonstrate  the insouciant manner of the highly privileged, always turning to face an intruder in their field. They are a mixture of breeds and their facial appearance is markedly varied on close observation.
This reminded me that some years ago it was discovered that sheep belie their reputation as woolly-minded dimwits, in fact they have rematkable cognitive abilities. They can recognise at least 50 familiar sheep faces for up to two years, and their shepherd's too. And what is more they can distinguish  emotions as well, being more inclined to go towards a smiling human or a happy sheep face (the clue is in the position of the ears when stressed - at least it is with sheep, I'm not sure about the shepherd). The range of emotions they demonstrate is quite wide. 

"For example, the backward ear posture which is associated with unfamiliar and uncontrollable unpleasant situations could express fear, the raised ear posture displayed in response to an unfamiliar but controllable unpleasant situation could characterise anger and the asymmetric ear posture that is mainly displayed in response to sudden situations could express surprise. These findings support the intuitive knowledge of people such as farmers who work closely with sheep and have learnt to understand their expressions."

More about this here. 

And for further amazing sheep facts don't miss this recent blip by the incomparable sheep artist/blipper Phoeb Thickpenny