230. An extraordinary sight on the lawn . . .

This morning we opened the front door to an extraordinary sight on the lawn . . .

. . . I had been expecting trouble.. I had been expecting sheep. I had noticed that my step over fruit trees near the veg garden had been nibbled. Sarah suggested caterpillars, but when we looked closely whole leaves were missing and there were no caterpillars.

Then I found damage in the hedge outside the veg garden, at the top of the bank leading down to the river. Another fruit tree, also with its lower leaves nibbled off. Also, the surrounding brambles were all missing their tender new shoots.

Sarah then found sheep droppings on the lawn.

Somehow, I thought, a sheep must have got through the fence from the bank next to the river. We've always had problems with sheep on our bottom bank.

But I couldn't find a hole in the fence.

And then this morning, I opened the door to see ...

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