Woolly Wanderers on Roseberry Common

On Roseberry Common, a flock of sheep takes refuge from the rain and blustering wind amidst the sterile shale remains of an old jet quarry.

A hundred and fifty years on, Mother Nature’s still struggling to reclaim the spoil left behind from the hunt for that fossilised wood of the Monkey Puzzle tree, deposited on the seabed some 150 million years ago. Jet jewellery was made popular by Queen Victoria’s mourning for her Albert.

To the best of my knowledge, Roseberry Common isn’t currently used for sheep grazing. Perhaps these woolly wanderers belong to the moor flock that roams Great Ayton Moor. But the dry-stone wall that separates it from the Common seems to be intact — maybe a forgetful walker had left the gate ajar up on Little Roseberry.

Ah, I spy a splash of blue paint on the rump of one of those ewes — a ‘smit’ mark. These, often coupled with lug marks — chunks neatly snipped from their ears — help identify a sheep to a particular farm.