Baa, Baa, Black Sheep, Have You Any Wool?

September 30, 2018 · Posted in Diet 

Some cool diet images:

Baa, Baa, Black Sheep, Have You Any Wool?
Image by antonychammond
Yes, sir, yes, sir,
Three bags full;
One for the master,
And one for the dame,
And one for the little boy
Who lives down the lane.

"Baa, Baa, Black Sheep" is an English nursery rhyme, the earliest surviving version of which dates from 1731. The words have changed little in two and a half centuries. It is sung to a variant of the 1761 French melody Ah! vous dirai-je, maman. Uncorroborated theories have been advanced to explain the meaning of the rhyme. These include that it is a complaint against Medieval English taxes on wool and that it is about the slave trade. In the twentieth century it was a subject of controversies in debates about political correctness. It has been used in literature and popular culture as a metaphor and allusion. The Roud Folk Song Index classifies the lyrics and their variations as number 4439.

The rhyme is a single stanza in trochaic metre, which is common in nursery rhymes and relatively easy for younger children to master. The Roud Folk Song Index, which catalogues folk songs and their variations by number, classifies the song as 4439 and variations have been collected across Great Britain and North America.

The rhyme is usually sung to a variant of the 1761 French melody Ah! vous dirai-je, maman, which is also used for "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and the "Alphabet song". The words and melody were first published together by A. H. Rosewig in (Illustrated National) Nursery Songs and Games, published in Philadelphia in 1879.

As with many nursery rhymes, attempts have been made to find origins and meanings for the rhyme, most which have no corroborating evidence. Katherine Elwes Thomas in The Real Personages of Mother Goose (1930) suggested that the rhyme referred to resentment at the heavy taxation on wool. This has particularly been taken to refer to the medieval English "Great" or "Old Custom" wool tax of 1275, which survived until the fifteenth century. More recently the rhyme has been connected to the slave trade, particularly in the southern United States. This explanation was advanced during debates over political correctness and the use and reform of nursery rhymes in the 1980s, but has no supporting historical evidence. Rather than being negative, the wool of black sheep may have been prized as it could be made into dark cloth without dyeing.

For more information please visit,_Baa,_Black_Sheep

You may think there’s nothing unusual about seeing sheep grazing on the Isle of Wight but some are a little bit different. Let me introduce you to the black sheep in the National Trust family…


Hebridean sheep are an ancient breed of medium-sized black sheep, which came from the islands off the west coast of Scotland. They’re often known as St Kilda sheep.

The first feral animals, small and hardy with hair coats, were domesticated by Iron-Age farmers. Their thick black fleece is a result of selective breeding, and it turns greyer with age.

Had it not been fashionable to keep them in the parkland of country estates, they may well have died out.

But in the 20th century they were brought back from the brink of extinction and now they’re widely used by conservation organisations.

The National Trust first bought them in the early 1990s from an Isle of Wight rare breed farm.

What makes them special?

They chose Hebridean sheep because they’re excellent at scrub control, preferring to browse coarse vegetation rather than flowers such as orchids and cowslips.

And they’ll happily eat docks, thistle flowers and nettles.

They’re a low-maintenance breed and are hardy – they don’t seem to mind bad weather conditions or a poor diet, unlike some other breeds.

So They use them to restore and maintain areas of chalk grassland where we want to encourage the return of delicate wildflowers. They’re also effective in restoring lowland heath, where they reduce the scrub that shades the heather.

How do They use them?

They move the sheep around quite a bit, using small flocks in places that are too small or unsuitable for cattle.

So you may often see them grazing on St Helens Common, at Bembridge Windmill, on Culver Down and Ventnor Downs, and alongside the Tennyson Trail at Freshwater Bay.

They also help maintain sites owned by the Wildlife Trust such as Bouldnor Heath Forest. We’ve a small breeding flock at Newtown and Clamerkin, which provides replacements for the ‘satellite’ flocks.

Caring for Their sheep

Their rangers and volunteers are responsible for looking after the sheep and moving them around the Isle of Wight to wherever they’re needed.

They shear them in early spring to reduce the risk of ticks and fly-strike, a particularly unpleasant condition that occurs in hot, wet conditions.

But, generally, they’re quite self sufficient, enjoying the environment and playing an important part in our family.

For further information please visit…

Image by Fotografik33 –
Ourang outan au jardin des plantes (Paris).
Les Orang-outans (Pongo) forment un genre de singes anthropoïdes de la famille des Hominidés. Ils sont répandus en Insulinde, plus précisément dans les îles de Bornéo et Sumatra. La taille moyenne des orang-outans est de 1,10 à 1,40 m pour 40 à 80 kg et peuvent vivre de 30 à 40 ans.
La gestation dure 245 jours. Les jeunes orang-outans voyagent accrochés au dos ou au ventre de leur mère pendant plus de deux ans. Les naissances sont espacées, avec un intervalle d’environ huit ans en moyenne.
Les orang-outans sont parmi les plus arboricoles des grands singes. Ils passent la majeure partie de leur temps dans les arbres, à la recherche de nourriture. L’animal se nourrit la plupart du temps de fruits, de jeunes pousses, d’écorce, de petits vertébrés, d’œufs d’oiseaux et d’insectes. Voilà pourquoi Anne Russon, qui étudie l’intelligence des grands singes à l’université York, s’est étonnée d’observer une nouvelle activité des orang-outans vivant autrefois en captivité et relachés à Bornéo : la pêche. Chaque nuit, ils fabriquent un nouveau nid perché entre 12 et 18 mètres au-dessus du sol.

The orangutans are the two exclusively Asian species of extant great apes. Native to Indonesia and Malaysia, orangutans are currently found only in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra. Classified in the genus Pongo, orangutans were considered to be one species. However, since 1996, they have been divided into two species: the Bornean orangutan (P. pygmaeus) and the Sumatran orangutan (P. abelii). In addition, the Bornean species is divided into three subspecies. The orangutans are also the only surviving species of the subfamily Ponginae, which also included several other species like Gigantopithecus, the largest known primate. Both species had their genomes sequenced and they appear to have diverged around 400,000 years ago. Orangutans diverged from the rest of the great apes approximately 15.7 to 19.3 mya (million years ago).

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