So often at this time of year i visit a place that earlier on in the year was a hive of activity to find no signs at all of the cat that was once there.Not so today,i arrived at the farm to be told that a cat had been seen only last week,big,black and leapt across the 10 ft wide track with ease.What,s more the local foxes had been noticeable by their absence the past fortnight
and the farm dogs in the yard had been acting strangely.I was asked to have a look round and also could i keep an eye out for a missing ewe?Some walkers had left the gates of the sheep field open the week before last and a few ewes had wandered off into the cornfields,not yet cut because of the recent rain,they got them all back bar one.Well being a small place with a tiny wood it wasn,t long before i,d covered all the ground and ended up in one of next doors fields which were lush and had greened up nicely from the rain and so would of been tempting pasture seeing as they run no stock on it.After a while i,d found the sheep in the corner near the fence sadly laid out and what was left could of filled a bucket.If the cat had killed it and i can,t see what else could of,it looks like it,s taste for mutton has returned,lambs had been taken in the spring and last winter ewes also but none in years previously.It would seem that not all bigcats take sheep,in fact only a minority do so,they may have formed the habit early on in life or only take them when hard pressed for food but i,ve an inkling(and if it,s the same cat it,s been around here since 04 and would be at least 7 by now)that it,s often something they do when they either slow up a bit or are injured and so resort to the easiest pickings available.The location and names have been witheld at the request of the farmer concerned........
and the farm dogs in the yard had been acting strangely.I was asked to have a look round and also could i keep an eye out for a missing ewe?Some walkers had left the gates of the sheep field open the week before last and a few ewes had wandered off into the cornfields,not yet cut because of the recent rain,they got them all back bar one.Well being a small place with a tiny wood it wasn,t long before i,d covered all the ground and ended up in one of next doors fields which were lush and had greened up nicely from the rain and so would of been tempting pasture seeing as they run no stock on it.After a while i,d found the sheep in the corner near the fence sadly laid out and what was left could of filled a bucket.If the cat had killed it and i can,t see what else could of,it looks like it,s taste for mutton has returned,lambs had been taken in the spring and last winter ewes also but none in years previously.It would seem that not all bigcats take sheep,in fact only a minority do so,they may have formed the habit early on in life or only take them when hard pressed for food but i,ve an inkling(and if it,s the same cat it,s been around here since 04 and would be at least 7 by now)that it,s often something they do when they either slow up a bit or are injured and so resort to the easiest pickings available.The location and names have been witheld at the request of the farmer concerned........
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