A sheepdog has “found his sea legs” after starting work on a remote shingle spit off the Suffolk coast which requires a commute by boat, a shepherd has said.
One-year-old border collie Sweep has been rounding up rare-breed sheep at the National Trust’s Orford Ness nature reserve since February this year, taking over from his predecessor, Kite.
“Thankfully, he seems to have found his sea legs.”
He said Sweep, who is still in training, will help engage visitors to the reserve in conservation and the Countryside Code.
The spit was used as a military test site during both World Wars and into the nuclear age, before the Ministry of Defence sold it to the National Trust in 1993.
Sweep will work with rare-breed sheep at the reserve, including the Whitefaced Woodland, Manx Loaghtan and the Herdwick.
Rare plants like sea pea grow at the reserve, as well as more than 100 species of lichen.
