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Recordist's notes
This is the sound of the black Hebridean sheep rams kept at Rayrigg Hall, eating hay out of their trough and clanging their horns on the metal as they do so. Hebridean sheep are small, hardy, and wild. They are one of the breeds closely related to the primitive, pre-domesticated wild sheep. Originally concentrated on St Kilda, (a Western archipelago 40 sea miles from Scotland's most westerly isles) The Black Hebridean sheep became a favourite park animal amongst the gentry of Cumbria, who favoured them for their hardiness and exotic, multi-horned appearance. Some of the rams appear to have six horns, and they are a beautiful, very dark brown/black colour. Their fleece is characterful and hardy, like the sheep. You can't record them whilst physically being present, as they are deeply suspicious of humans that aren't their shepherd, so to make this recording I buried my recorder in their hay.
About the place
Kendal is a town of about 29,147 people in England, United Kingdom. OttoAnna lists 46 field recordings from here.
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Sources & credits
- “Windermere, Cumbria LA23, UK - Hebridean sheep (rams) horns' clanging on their feeding trough” by Felicity Ford – CC BY-SA 3.0 · radio aporee ::: maps via Internet Archive
- Reverse geocoding: GeoNames – CC BY 4.0