The Pied Piper of Castor

After a morning meeting at Swaddywell with the site manager and the Butterfly Conservation officer, to discuss forthcoming work to enhance habitat for Grizzled and Dingy Skipper, I headed to Castor Hanglands for  a bit more exercise.

It was a gloriously sunny morning, and it was good to see lots of positive conservation management had taken place since my last visit in November. The southern part of Ailsworth Heath was being grazed by a sizable flock of rather motley sheep, including Shetlands, Herdwick, Hebrideans and the odd Manx Loughtan. All tough breeds ideal for conservation grazing, even though some had clearly seen better days.

They were a friendly bunch, a few coming right up to me to have their ears scratched, one even climbing up to see whether I'd  got anything interesting. I'm not sure whether they thought my camera bag contained sheep nuts, but when I walked away they started following me very closely, bleating to each other until I had most of the flock close behind me. I eventually left them behind at the kissing gate, though they all stayed near the electric fence for some time calling after me...