We got back to Croick this afternoon. The day was bright and the sky blue, but there was a penetrating window to ensure you could not complain of being hot. But it was nevertheless very pleasant after weeks of continuous rain which has left everything in the strath rather bedraggled.

As soon as we could, we headed up the strath to see the lambs which have joined us over the past few weeks. Lambing is always a nice reminder that spring has arrived, but it is is particularly important to us this year because the first of our own lambs have arrived. We bought some young ewes in late 2010 and they were ‘put to the tup’ late last year, producing their first lambs this spring. Of course there have been lambs born every year at Croick for many, many years but these being our own ‘estate lambs’  are naturally rather different in our eyes. We know need to hope that they develop well so we can send plenty of good fit lambs to the sales in August!