The Sheep Beside the Sea Wild

This is no ordinary story about a beautiful and faraway island

tucked away in a remote part

by the wild Atlantic Ocean.

There are some creatures here,

that you probably wouldn't expect to find on a far-flung rocky shore.

and no ordinary sheep at that.

They are one of the wildest

and have lived on the island

They were old before the first

but that's not what makes them

they were thrown out of their fields

North Ronaldsay is the most northerly of the Orkney Islands

are an unspoiled grassy paradise.

with plenty of time to rest

when everything will change.

They are in for a big shock.

Although it might all look lovely for these little lambs now,

they are no ordinary breed,

is a rather curious old wall

which more or less completely encircles the whole island.

the sheep out rather than in.

stay in the green fields for long.

Soon they too will be banished

of their kind in the world.

Instead of starving, they've taken

of the little lambs' destiny.

The newborn lambs and their mothers

are allowed to spend spring

The grass helps the nursing mothers

A charmed existence with beautiful,

from thousands of miles away.

By the time the terns migrate south

the lambs' lives will change

Starlings are rearing families

they don't seem very interested

their flying skills round the wall,

practice flights turn into races.

They are rounded up from the beach

to be counted and checked out.

Although they live pretty much

By now, you might be wondering

why the sheep are kept shut out

Why was a wall built which forces them to live out on the beach?

the laird of the island decided

to be made from rearing cattle

while the little native sheep were banished to the beach.

who'd survived for millennia.

They became one of only a handful of animals in the whole world

so the sheep evolved and have become very efficient at extracting it.

of banishment, their unusual diet

has fundamentally reshaped the way

They can now die if given grass

must make them very thirsty.

Luckily, there are a few springs

close enough to the island's shore to keep the sheep in drinking water.

Instead of grazing in the day

and chewing the cud at night

the island breed have adapted to the rhythm of the tides.

They are an amazing example

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