Fool Me Twice

This year I have had very bad luck when it comes to photographing the "ordinary" sheep in the fields. Most of our sheep enjoy sheep nuts and come running to the sound of a rattling bucket, so I thought it would be a good idea to go into the field with a bucketful of nuts and shake it and photograph whoever comes over. When I went to photograph our early surprise lambs, the two ewes ran away rather than come over. It's winter, they're hungry, and they ran away from that free meal at great speed. I was baffled. One Sunday, I decided to go out with a bucket to photograph our gorgeous Suffolk ram lamb, and I should not have been surprised that he decided to run away this time either. Sheep. Honestly.

Of the whole flock of tip lambs and adult tips, there was only one who accepted my offering. I wasn't surprised who it was either. This fella is something else. Dad bought him as a large lamb at a sale in late 2018 and at first we didn't really notice anything super special about him, but as time has gone on he has proven himself a real character.

He's incredibly quiet. Every morning he greets us at the gate and comes right up to us, sniffing and licking at our hands to see if we have any nuts for him. I haven't seen a single hint of aggression in him. We're naturally wary of these tips as they can be very dangerous but this guy is quiet as a, well, lamb. I'm still cautious around him but he's remarkable. The other tips, "normal" boys with a fear of people, now come over for snacks too.

He has no name, but he looks like a "John" to me.



On this day all but one of the boys ran off, and the ewes in the next field all came running over.









Look at these silly boys.



John ate his fill and wandered off. He didn't mind that I was there at all.







A good boy.