In recent columns, I’ve written about sheep worrying by dogs, a serious problem that has become worse in recent years. However, until now, I’ve never written about dog worrying by sheep. OK, this report is somewhat tongue in cheek, but my sprocker, Emma, recently had an encounter that might well have left her somewhat worried.
Her memorable meeting took place last month, when I was visiting a shooting friend in Sussex. He has rather more than 20 acres surrounding his house, most of it woodland, but he also has a three-acre rough paddock, much used by hunting barn owls and kestrels. Though he has no livestock of his own, he likes to have the paddock cropped by sheep and he currently has a small loan flock of half a dozen…