On 5th April we gathered the ewes to pen them up prior to lambing. My shepherd friend Stuart Piper is carrying a lamb; the first ewe had lambed that morning in warm sunshine. The second ewe has just produced quads, very rare as shepherds will tell you! My lambing records remind me this same ewe had quads last spring and a beautiful photo of the four lambs appeared in The Times newspaper.
We are in unknown territory with this terrible coronavirus pandemic. Sadly, we have had to stop all vineyard visits until further notice, but wine sales are still possible through our website. We are offering a free delivery service until the end of May. FedEx continues to collect from Breaky Bottom and usually deliver efficiently within two days. Although wine merchants are mostly closed you will find that many who stock Breaky Bottom are still able to make house-to-house deliveries.
I will try to end these notes with a smile – the weather is beautiful, a reminder to all of the unstoppable spring, perfect for the new-born lambs and all creatures G&S. Over coffee this morning in the sunshine a superb Peacock butterfly alighted on the flint wall beside us, sunbathing…. (he or she turned down my offer of a cuppa!) They and Painted Ladies are long-lived butterflies, 11-12 months from egg to their brief adult life. There are lizards warming themselves in the sun, recharging. And yesterday I saw a stoat make a spectacular dash across the yard, prominent black tail shining roguishly. Restaurants are closed as we must protect ourselves and each other, but my five-starred Michelin multi-birdfeeder is open, and attracts birds in waves and they bring their chums.
I am so aware that only humans know of the trouble that we are in. 2020, and we travel around the world in whirligig fashion in a way that we never used to. We must find the handbrake…. Our birds continue as ever, either remaining here all the year round or migrating to spend summer or winter in Britain. The swallows have not yet arrived; next week will see them, I hope. Their families have made this journey over millions of years…... perhaps we should learn from them.