Lonely no more: ‘Britain’s loneliest sheep’ gives birth for the first time
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Fiona the sheep welcomed two healthy lambs - a boy and a girl - on the night of Feb 10 at Dalscone Farm in Dumfries, Scotland.
PHOTO: DALSCONE FARM/FACEBOOK
A sheep that once hogged global headlines for being Britain’s loneliest sheep
Fiona the sheep welcomed two healthy lambs – a boy and a girl – on the night of Feb 10 at the Dalscone Farm in Dumfries, Scotland.
“The world’s loneliest sheep is lonely no more!” Dalscone Farm wrote on their Facebook page on Feb 11, announcing the birth of the twins.
“Fiona has officially traded her title for ‘World’s Best Mum’ and she is taking to her new role amazingly well. We couldn’t be prouder of her and these two healthy little lambs,” the Facebook post added.
Dalscone Farm manager Ben Best told British TV channel Sky News a vet was on hand to help Fiona give birth and she has since taken to her new role amazingly well after going through labour for nine hours.
“She’s doing great. She was a superstar,” he said.
Mr Best said they have yet to decide on the names of the latest arrivals but he told British broadcaster the BBC there are “a lot of suggestions for Shrek’s children.”
Fiona the sheep was named after Princess Fiona in the DreamWorks’s animation movie Shrek.
In the movie, Fiona fell in love with green ogre Shrek and eventually had triplets named Fergus, Farkle and Felicia.
The ewe made headlines around the world following her rescue by a group of farmers
The animal was first spotted by Ms Jillian Turner during a paddling trip in 2021, and she raised the alarm when she spotted the same sheep again in 2023.
That led to British newspapers calling the ewe “Britain’s loneliest sheep”.
Mr Best said Fiona’s isolation at the cliff has left her struggling to bond with other sheep in the farm.
That is when he and other managers thought “long and hard” before deciding Fiona could have lambs, in the hopes that she’ll have “an amazing companionship going forward in her life”.
The decision has turned out to be the right one.
“She took to them straight away and was licking them and just absolutely adored them,” the BBC quoted Mr Best as saying. “When you see that bond, and just that love she had for the lambs, it vindicates the decision.”
