Well, we are nearly all still here after the worst floods to hit the county in living memory. We unfortunately lost 2 of our lambs when a field that had never before flooded did so and to such an incredible depth that water actually entered the bottom shed to a depth of about 2 foot.
In desperation at the extent of flooding, Kev and I ended up taking his fishing boat across the flooded fields (not a fence in sight underneath us) to attempt to rescue our lambs - they were trapped by water up to their tummies in a hawthorn hedge, but it was the dyke kest that saved their lives due to it being built up from the field. We cut lots of the wire fence and dragged them through, sadly two were missing, and five were very hypothermic and had to be ferried back in two more boat trips to my sister and Rachel who were waiting with hairdryers, hot water bottles and straw to dry them and warm them. Thankfully they all eventually came through okay. We also recued a couple of baby deer from the water and later in the day one had just laid down in the field so we decided that it would probably die if left and took the risk of the shock being too much for it and took it back to the farm and left in a dark shed overnight, by which time it had come round and it was released up the wood behind us.
We also rescued our neighbouring farmer's cows who had got washed over a fence and were wedged up in the corner of our field, belly-deep in water and extremely hungry. More cut wire and they joined all the sheep in the Hill field - this 6-acre field rises very high but had only about 4 acres not under water so although stock was safe in here with 114 sheep and 8 cows it was a total mudbath. We rolled them out a bale of silage that was floating about (yes, really, they all floated about, the stacks of bales are now all on the ground!) and brought some hay over on another boat trip.
For three days we fought on keeping the animals fed and eventually on the Monday, although there was still 2 foot of water on the lonnin we brought all the sheep up home in the trailer - a bit of a rocky ride out given the deep ruts at various places caused by the rushing water, but with more rain forecast we felt we had to. The cows had to wait until Saturday for the water to go off the lonnin so they could walk up and get loaded into a trailer at the farm to go back to their home.
Walking around the fields now, it is eerie going past trees that have debris hanging on them way above my head. We have lost a few fences and have a lot of plant debris but are in a lot better state than many people. The photo shows us setting off in the boat, with a deer in the background swimmimg to freedom!
