The nomads

This lovable clan of Hebridean sheep migrate around several reserves throughout the year, yet never seem to satisfy their desire to explore (we think they’ve watched too much Shaun the Sheep)!

Given half a chance, they will be out the gate, over the fence or through the tiniest gap. Luckily for our amazing Livestock Checker Volunteers who are out looking for them, they stand out beautifully when they hide in the woods and scrub… not! In fact, they are beautifully camouflaged.

Fortunately, this herd is obsessed with food and a shake of a bucket usually brings them straight towards you. They particularly enjoy eating bramble and leaves.

This love affair with food has led to their leader becoming known as Skittles. He is easily recognisable because he owns the largest set of horns, and is quite happy to utilize them. Skittles' favourite tactic at feed time is to headbutt the feed bucket, the carrier of the feed bucket, and any nearby sheep. The more sheep he can push over the happier he is, hence the name Skittles. We are sure the majority of the time he puts more effort into annoying the other sheep than he does actually eating the food on offer.